Gift Baskets

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Gift Baskets

• How to construct and prepare gift baskets for all
  occasions

Written by Holli Bowman Dr. Frank
Flanders Georgia Ag Ed Curriculum Office Updated
January 2006
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Objectives

• Students will be able to name various uses and
  occasions for gift baskets.
• Students will be able to prepare and assemble a
  gift basket with a theme.
• Students will be able to calculate the cost of a
  gift basket.
• Students will be able to describe the general
  design guidelines of making a gift basket.

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Uses of Gift Baskets

• Decorations
• Banquet Centerpieces
• Door Prizes
• Teacher Gifts
• Holiday Gifts
• Welcome to Our School Gifts
• Theme Gifts
• Gifts to supporters
• and many other uses

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Special Uses of Gift Basketsin Ag Ed Programs

• Banquet Centerpieces
• - Baskets make beautiful table centerpieces.
• - The baskets can be used as door prizes at the
  banquet.
• - Baskets make a great class learning activity.
• - Baskets can be made in advance of the banquet
  if non-perishable products are used.

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Special Uses of Gift Basketsin Ag Ed Programs

• Ag Products Basket
• - Use products in basket to tell the story of
  agriculture and agricultural careers.
• - Include literature to explain agriculture and
  agricultural careers.
• - Use products from your state or highlight one
  local product.

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Determine a Theme

• Baskets can be created
• around any theme.
• Examples
• FFA
• Garden
• Education
• State Products
• Circus
• Birthday
• Your School
• Holidays

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Theme Idea
As a class activity, the teacher may want you to
choose a theme and make a list of the items to
include in your basket.
Theme example Dairy Items you might include
plush dairy cows, cheese crackers, milk chocolate
candy, macaroni cheese, dry milk, dairy drink,
cow print pen, fabric swatch with cows and
evaporated milk
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Assemble Supplies
Supplies - Basket or container - Excelsior
filler or shred - Jams Jellies - Peanuts
- Flower Seeds - Magazines - Ribbon - Silk
Flowers - Soil Sample Bag - Fabric Swatch -
Cokes - Candy - etc . . .
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Assemble Tools Materials

• Tools
• - Wire cutters
• - Scissors
• - Florist picks
• - Tape
• - Rubber bands
• - Floral tape
• - Floral wire
• - Cellophane wrap

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Preparing Items
One of the challenges beginners face is making
items stay in place in the design. Here are a
few techniques that can be used on a wide variety
of items.
To include seed packs and other small items in
the basket, they may need to secured to a florist
pick. In this case, tape the pick to the back of
the seed pack.
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Preparing Items
Fabric swatches add an inexpensive splash of
color to your basket design.
To insert a fabric swatch, attach a wooden pick.
Fold the swatch around the pick and then wrap the
wire on the pick around the folded swatch as
shown. A steel pick machine may also be used to
make the job much faster if one is available.
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Preparing Items
A steel pick machine is a handy tool for making
quick work of putting picks on items.
A steel pick has been attached to this flower.
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Preparing Items
To use a bottle of Coke in the design, secure
picks to opposite sides of the bottle with rubber
bands and tape.
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Preparing Items
Here, florist tape is used to secure a pick to
silk leaves. Florist picks and floral tape may
be used to prepare many items.
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Preparing Items
Ribbons add a splash of color to your basket. To
include ribbon tips, they must be secured to a
pick.
To attach a wooden pick, fold the ribbon around
the pick and wrap the wire on the pick around the
folded ribbon. A steel pick machine may also be
used to make the job much faster.
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Preparing Items
To give the ribbon a nice finish, cut on an angle
or in a V shape.
To easily cut into a V shape, fold the ribbon
in half and snip on angle.
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Preparing Items
Stems such as wheat can be secured together
using floral tape.
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Preparing Items
Making tubes of magazines, handouts,
newsletters, etc., facilitates placement, but
items may be used un-rolled in many instances.
Make tubes out of magazines by rolling the
magazines and securing with curling ribbon.
These make good tall items for your basket. If
they need to be taller, just put a rubber band
around one end and slip a wooden pick underneath.
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Designing the Basket
The principles used in making gift baskets are
very similar to those of floral design. You may
want to review different geometric shapes used in
floral design. The following shapes are most
commonly used.
Horizontal
Inverted T
Symmetrical Triangle
Asymmetrical Triangle
Right-Angle
Circle
The first step in putting the basket together is
visualizing the overall shape and size in your
mind.
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Filling the Basket
Excelsior is commonly used as filler. It is
shipped in compacted bales. Begin by separating
and fluffing the excelsior.
Other fillers include colored paper shred, mylar
shred and plastic shred.
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Filling the Basket
Fill the basket with the separated and fluffed
excelsior. Remember, filler is inexpensive. Pile
it high in the basket to display and showcase
more expensive items such as stuffed animals.
Showcase items sinking to the bottom and becoming
partially hidden is a common problem for
beginning basket makers.
Beginners tend to underestimate the height
necessary to make their baskets look good
especially after the filler settles. Start with
a lot of filler to make items stand tall.
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Is the basket to be viewed from one side, all
sides, etc.? Place the items with the view in
mind.
If the basket is to be used as a table
centerpiece, start by placing tall items in the
center and prepare the basket so it is attractive
when viewed from all sides.
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Filling the Basket
When filling the basket, split the excelsior into
two sections to facilitate putting tall items in
the basket. Beginners will have the most success
if their first basket is to be viewed from one
side with the tallest materials in the middle and
to the back of the basket.
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Inserting Items
First, establish the height.
Begin by inserting the tallest items in the
basket first. Birch or other tree branches,
wheat, an ear of corn (shucks up) and rolled up
magazines make good tall items.
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Inserting Items
Second, establish the width and depth.
Adding items on each side of the basket and to
the front and back helps to establish the width
and depth. Here, a bottle of Coke is used.
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Inserting Items
Third, establish the shape of the design.
Add items, one-by-one, to establish the shape of
the design. Heavier, darker colored items should
be kept in the center and lower in the basket.
Smaller, lighter colored items can be placed near
the edges and higher in the design if needed.
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Inserting Items
This soil sample bag and instructions are added
to this agricultural theme basket.
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Inserting Items
Specialty jams and jellies are added to the front
of the basket. These heavy items give visual
stability to the design. If they were placed
high or both on the same side, the basket would
not be visually balanced. It would look heavy on
one side.
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Inserting Items
Play money, an apple and a boll of cotton add to
the design of this basket. Filler items, mostly
small, inexpensive items are put in last to fill
gaps.
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Inserting Items
Filler items include ribbon tips, play money,
small silk flowers, fabric swatches, silk leaves,
cotton bolls and candy.
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Wrapping the Basket
To give the basket a professional look, the
basket should be wrapped with cellophane. It is
important to cut the cellophane large enough to
fit around the basket. Be sure to measure before
cutting. To measure, unroll a length of the
cellophane and set the basket in the center.
Before cutting, pull the corners of the cut end
and the cellophane roll above the basket.
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Wrapping the Basket
Make the cut at the point where each end extends
6 12 taller than the basket.
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Wrapping the Basket
To wrap the basket, start by brining the opposite
corners of the cellophane to the top of the
basket. Hold in place with one hand while
bringing the other two corners to the top. It
may be helpful to get the assistance of a friend
with this step.
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Wrapping the Basket
Once all corners are gathered at the top, secure
the cellophane with ribbon or raffia just above
the tallest items in the basket. Some of the
taller items may stick out above the cellophane.
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Wrapping the Basket
If the cellophane is just a bit too short in some
places, it may be necessary to use a piece of
plastic tape to secure the cellophane. However,
the tape should be placed so that it does not
show. The mechanics of your arrangement (tape,
picks, holding devices) should never show.
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Finishing Touches
Adding silk flowers and a bow gives the basket a
touch of class.
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Basket Cost
It is important to know the cost of your baskets
either for the budget or if they are to be sold
as a fundraiser. Make a list of every item in
your basket and materials used. Assign a cost to
each item, estimating as necessary. Be aware
that a professional basket maker would determine
the cost before making the basket.
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Basket Cost
Many of the items in the basket must be purchased
in multiples or in bulk to get the best possible
price. The following slide gives a break-down of
individual costs based on bulk purchases for this
example basket.
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Cost of Example Basket
Basket 2.25 Relish 1.65 Blackberry
Jam 1.65 Peanut Brittle 1.50 Twix Fun-Size
.15 Dum-Dum Suckers .10 Salted Peanuts
.25 Microwave Popcorn .35 Pecan Log
Roll 2.25 Apple .35 Silk Flower
.45 Bottle of Coke .50 Yellow Blue Ribbon
.35 Ting-ting .15 Excelsior Filler
.40 Play Money .15 Cereal .40
Georgia Growing Magazine .00 FFA New Horizons
Magazine .00 Georgia FFA Today Magazine
.00 Fabric Swatch .20 Flower Seed
.35 Soil Sample Bag .00 Cellophane
Wrapping .40 Georgia Peanuts
.00 Raffia .25 River Birch Twigs
.15 Dried Wheat .25 Total 14.45
Collecting donated items significantly reduces
the cost of making baskets!
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Additional Ideas
Be creative when thinking of containers for your
basket designs. Almost any container can be
filled with items to make a unique gift.
Mugs
Insulated Lunch Boxes
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General Design Guidelines
1. A basket design should be about 1-1/2 to
2-1/2 times the height or width of the basket,
which ever is greater. 2. Larger, heavier items
should be placed toward the bottom and center of
the design for balance. 3. Smaller items should
be toward the top and edges of the
design. 4. Dark colors should be placed toward
the bottom and center of the design. 5. Use
more light, bright colored items than dark
colored items.
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General Design Guidelines
6. Establish the height of the design first by
putting in tall items. 7. Establish length and
width second. 8. Put in the dominate/spotlight
items third. 9. Be sure that all items can be
seen. Hidden items add to the cost, but not to
the display. 10. Add filler items or other
materials as needed to finish the design.
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Making gift baskets gives students a unique
chance to express their creativity and learn new
skills in addition to constructing items valuable
for many uses.
Special thanks to Lauren Jarrett for her
assistance in creating this example basket.