Handmade Christmas #8: The next best thing to a Christmas stocking is when you get a Christmas Basket. Both are gifts laden with a variety of items, and each new thing spotted is a source of fun and joy.

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Make It Personal

Each gift basket can be personal and imaginative. Have a stressed out woman on your list? A spa basket will help her to relax. Fill it with her favorite scented bath bombs, bubble bath, and a few candles.

Have someone who loves to cook? Fill their basket with handmade spices, vanilla, extracts, and a jar of Wooden Spoon Butter. Toss in a couple of those dishcloths, pot scrubbers and a draining mat that you just made, as well.

You can even fill one for a special Paw Pal.  Simply add a chew toy and homemade treats.

Consider the basket as part of the gift as well, and it doesn’t have to be a true basket. Choose a container that fits the items. The perfect ‘basket’ for that cook is a mixing bowl.

If you are doing a gift basket filled with toys for a child, try using a wooden or plastic crate and they can also use it as storage. Use your imagination to fit the container with the gifts and the recipient.

Gift basket filled with homemade goodies

 

It Only Looks Expensive

Gift baskets don’t have to cost a lot. Five to seven items will fill one up. Use straw, shredded tissue paper or even a fluffy bath towel for that spa basket.

The items can be placed in the basket as they are, or individually wrapped with cellophane and ribbon. Each basket should contain a little ‘extra’: a small item that will just set things off. Here are some ideas:

  • A packet of hot chocolate or tea, and a few homemade cookies
  • A package of spiced pecans, peanut brittle and other homemade candies
  • A small package of potpourri (you can buy a larger bag and divide it into smaller packets)
  • A scented candle
  • A small jar of homemade jam, jelly, or salsa
  • A wooden spoon and a scraper

Using baskets as your Handmade Christmas Idea #8 are easy to do, and depending on what you want to add, will easily fit with your Christmas budget.

While shopping, keep a list of the basic basket you want to create, and pick up a few items at a time. Before you know it, your Christmas shopping will be done.

Put on some Christmas music, pour yourself a cup of hot chocolate or tea, sit at the kitchen table and add your own creative touch to your Christmas gifts!

Don’t miss the rest of the Handmade Christmas Series!

Handmade Christmas #1 – Psalms 91 Throw

Handmade Christmas #2 – Crochet Hats & Scarves

Handmade Christmas #3 – Knitted Kitchen Fun

Handmade Christmas #4 – Crochet Pot Scrubbers

Handmade Christmas #5 – Embroidered Dish Towels

Handmade Christmas #6 – Wooden Spoon Butter

Handmade Christmas #7 – Fresh Baked Trays

Julie Murphree is a blogger, newspaper columnist, and speaker on all things ‘Living a Simple Life on the Farm’. She is the author of \\\'The Farm Wife – Living a Simple Life on the Farm. She and her husband have 60 acres in NW Louisiana where they actively work on living as sustainable as possible.

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