I'm wondering what the people here think of sending gift baskets as gifts...
By sbeauty
@sbeauty (5865)
United States
February 6, 2009 2:25pm CST
I've noticed tons of gift basket sites online, and I was wondering if people really buy them. Personally I've always thought of gift baskets as being filled with tiny packages of goodies that aren't worth near what the baskets cost. I figure there must be convenience or something that people like about them, but they still just look expensive to me. Please let me know your thoughts.
4 responses
@Jae2619 (1483)
• United States
7 Feb 09
I think gift baskets are a great idea, but buying them aren't.. I love making my own. It's fun, and more personal. The ones you can buy already made up are filled with small sample sized candys, lotions and so on... Why not go the extra mile and make it and get the fulled sized items to go in one.
I am always on the hunt for a good, cheap basket to put up for a gift to be made..
@sbeauty (5865)
• United States
7 Feb 09
I hate those tiny packages and know they aren't nearly worth what you pay for them. I was with my niece when she opened a corporate gift that had a bunch of Harry and David items. She opened a couple of the packages, and there were only about 6 bites in each one. The basket looked gorgeous, but the value just wasn't there. Thanks for your input!
@dvschic (1795)
• United States
6 Feb 09
we typically send out gift baskets to clients, but i do also make a few of them for people i love. i prefer to hand make them though, like the other respondent, so that i know exactly whats coming and going in. i think they are a lazy way to give gifts if they are premade.
@sbeauty (5865)
• United States
7 Feb 09
Creating your own makes them so much more personal, doesn't it! I wish there was a website that featured cool baskets and a huge selection of items so that you could design your own, but I've never run across one like this. The ones I've seen that let you make your own only seem to have a few items to choose from, and they're all those little mini-packs of goodies with only a few bites in them. Thanks for responding!
@dvschic (1795)
• United States
7 Feb 09
give me 20 mins at the dollar store and i'm good, for christmas i made movie baskets, i did these cute boxes from CIAB that looked like popcorn boxes, put in 20 bucks to blockbuster, a couple popcorn bags, beef jerky, two sodas and some mints. wrapped it up and it was adorable, everyone loved them.
@stephcjh (38473)
• United States
7 Feb 09
I think it alot easier for people to send gift baskets because they can be delivered by someone else. Alot of people like gifts like that also if someone is hard to buy for. I like gift cards the most though.
@sbeauty (5865)
• United States
7 Feb 09
Easy isn't always best though. I agree that gift cards can give you more value for the money and make super gifts for the hard to buy for. I think someone would have to create a gift basket sight that offered me more variety of full-sized gifts, a great price, and a lot of value for my money. Maybe they could even stick in a gift card. Then I might consider them. So far all I've heard is that they are more convenient to purchase and deliver. Not enough in my book to hook me. Thanks for sharing!
@Wizzywig (7847)
•
6 Feb 09
I think they are bought for convenience rather than for value. I'd prefer to buy an empty basket and choose the contents myself to personalise the gift by putting in things that the recipient will appreciate. Sometimes there is no specific single gift that the person would want but its nice to think that someone cares enough to have taken the time to find useful smaller items. The monetary cost is often less important than the thought. When it was my friend's birthday recently, I had very little cash to spare so I made up a little 'nostalgia' package with a few packs of sweets that he would have had as a kid (Parma violets/sherbert fountain etc) plus a yo-yo, a polystyrene glider, badge & balloons & a few other bits. I also collected shiny pennies (one for each year of his age. He thought it was great unwrapping each thing & being a kid again!
