How to Make a Gift Basket: A Checklist for the Perfect Present

Here at The Sock Drawer, we sock fairies are super passionate about spreading joy through not only our different collections of novelty socks, but also through tons of other fun opportunities for gift-giving. Especially as this coronavirus pandemic rages on, there hasn’t been a time more deserving of showing our loved ones just how much we treasure them.

If you’re looking to make a special gift basket for someone you care about but aren’t quite sure how to get started, you are in the right place! We hope this checklist will help you put together the perfect present for each of the very special people in your lives.

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start with your goals and your purpose.

Before you get into the shopping part of making your gift basket, take some time to get your thoughts together so you can start the process with a plan! This will make things so much easier in the long run.

• Who is it you’re shopping for, and how well do you know them? Is it your mother? A bestie? Your husband? Neighbor? Coworker?
• How old are they, and what are some of their hobbies and passions?
• What’s the occasion you’re helping them celebrate? Is it a wedding? A birthday? Is it a surprise pick-me-up to let them know you’re thinking of them?

There’s a neat study out there that talks about the effects of gift-giving on purchasers’ strategies, explaining how people are more likely to invest more time and financial resources for more intimate and special occasions. This totally makes sense: When we’re shopping for a close friend or for someone’s wedding gift, we might take the process more seriously than we would, say, when we’re shopping for a thank you gift or birthday gift for a casual acquaintance.

Regardless of how much pressure you’re feeling to secure the perfect presents for a gift basket, don’t let the process stress you out. It’s always the thought that matters most, and your loved one will surely appreciate any amount of time and effort you put in to make them smile.

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consider the logistics.

This step is honestly pretty darn easy to forget, but extremely important, which is why we put it up on the top of the list here. After going through the experience of finding an assortment of special treats for your friend and getting it wrapped up all gorgeously, the last thing you want to have happen to you is discovering you can’t ship the wine bottle you included in your gift basket, leaving you stuck having to unwrap everything and start all over again. Oy!

To avoid this unfortunate snafu, think about how you’ll be giving your special gift before you even start a shopping list:

• Will you be using a service that combines and ships all of the items straight to your friend for you?
• Will you be packaging and shipping everything on your own?
• Do you plan to drop it off at their doorstep as a special hand-delivery surprise?
• Are you going to hand it off to them at a drive-by party? (File this one under: things we never thought to do before quarantine.)
• Will you be bringing it to a small get-together amongst friends and family?
• Do any of the gifts need to be explained in-person in order to understand why they were given?

Once you understand where your loved one will be unwrapping their special surprise, you’ll be able to put something together that not only suits their taste, but is also appropriate for the environment in which it’ll be enjoyed.

make a list of gift basket components.

Once you’re clear on who you’re shopping for and how your present will get to them, it’s time to start brainstorming the different components of your gift basket. In our opinion, this is the most fun part of the process because you can be as creative as you’d like!

There are so many different directions you can go with your gifting, but a lot of people choose to make baskets that go along with a certain theme. While, of course, the actual items you choose to include should reflect your loved one’s individuality, here are a few thematic ideas to get you started with your shopping list.

• BRIDAL BASKET: If you’re gifting a bride-to-be, you might choose to include some items that’ll be helpful on and after her big day, like a trinket dish for her ring, a few picture frames to hang wedding photos in the newlyweds’ future home, a thematic candle and maybe even a notebook for them to keep track of their most exciting moments during their first year of marriage. And we’d be remiss if we didn’t throw in some cute wedding socks!
• COOKING COLLECTION: Friends who are into cooking — whether it was something they’ve always loved or found their passion for during quarantine — might enjoy a gift basket filled to the brim with kitchen tools. Funny oven mitts, a quirky cookbook, some spices and a disposable camera to document their creations might all be fun items to include. Oh, and did you know we have great food socks, too?
• FUN FASHIONS: If you know someone who’s really into fun and colorful fashion, help them feed their passion with a collection of creative accessories. Whether it’s hair bows, neckties, headbands or handbags, look for items that mesh well with their personality. There are also tons of sock gift ideas to suit every style, too. Wink, wink!

• MOMMY’S TIME OUT: Odds are, any time you ask a new mom how they’re doing, they will tell you they’re dog-tired. Caring for little ones is exhausting work, so if you have a reason to gift the mommy friends in your life, consider items that will help them get some much needed R&R, like a soothing eye mask, assortment of essential oils, lavender tea, relaxing bath salts and (of course!) a gift card to their favorite takeout place. You know what else might work? Some mom-themed socks.
• FAN FAVORITES: Everybody has that friend who is more into sports than anyone else could ever imagine. That friend deserves a gift basket containing everything they could need to keep their fandom alive. Team pennants, jerseys, hats, scarves, gloves and maybe even a signed ball (!) are special presents they won’t only reserve for game day. And you’d never guess, but we actually have some great sports socks! Huh!
• ADVENTURE GADGETS: If your loved one is a big fan of the great outdoors, they’ll really enjoy a collection of gifts that will help them to adventure away. Start with a gift card to their favorite sporting goods store, and add in some practical items like bug spray, a flashlight and snacks for any well-deserved hiking breaks. Don’t forget the outdoorsy socks!

OK, OK. We’re sorry we included socks in every basket idea. Wait a sec ... we’re a sock store. We’re not sorry! They’re affordable, practical and they suit EVERY theme! Socks are the perfect gift basket item!

start shopping.

Now that you know who you’re shopping for, what the occasion is, how the gift is getting to them and what you want to include, it’s time to actually purchase your gifts. Depending on whether you’ll be shopping in a physical store or ordering online, you might not find everything you’re looking for right away or could need to wait a little while for something to ship to your house.

Keep in mind, if you’ll be assembling the gift basket yourself, you’ll need to give yourself plenty of extra time for any shipping delays that might prevent the gift components you ordered from arriving soon enough for you to put all of the pieces together. After all, you can’t wrap up your gift if you’re missing a huge part of it!

When you’re placing orders from multiple websites or stopping by multiple stores to pick up different gifts, it can be really hard to keep track of what you’ve already purchased and what’s still left to shop for. Something that helps us keep our gifting in order is to create a special shopping list just for this particular set of gifts. You don’t have to get fancy with it by any means, but sometimes something as simple as creating a list on your phone’s Notes app is enough to be able to shop confidently and efficiently.

It also might be helpful to check with each of the stores whether they have any gifting options available. Whether it’s something as simple as a swirl of ribbon or as elaborate as a custom gift wrapped sock bouquet (we can attest to how special these are!), any extra bit of help will save you time and stress.

put everything together.

Once you have all of the pieces of your gift in order, it’s time to start putting everything together so you can make the basket. Put all of the components in front of you and just simply look at about how much space they all take up together. This will help you determine how big a basket you’ll need for everything.

We recommend, unless you have to abide by certain package size restrictions, you wait until you have all of the items for your gift ready to go before you get the basket. Sometimes an item might be much smaller or larger than you were expecting, and you don’t want to have to go back out and get a new basket if the one you first picked isn’t the right size for what you need.

As you’re getting your items in order, you might want to go one by one and make sure each gift is ready to be given.

• Do one last check for any cracks, breakage or fading on all of the gift pieces.
• Remove or cover up the prices from each of the items so the focus is on the gift and the thought behind it, not the cost involved.
• If you have any items that are returnable, consider storing the gift receipts together in a separate envelope you can tuck discreetly into the basket.

You’re now ready for the final step, putting the basket together!

add finishing touches, and wrap it all up.

While assembling a gift basket isn’t a perfect science, there are some tips that might help make the process a little bit easier. 

• To start, get your hands on some scissors, tissue paper, tape and clear or colorful cellophane.
• Set aside enough table space to work with all of the gifts and wrapping.
• Prop up your gift basket in front of you and add a layer of tissue paper (or a few) to the bottom. If you skip this step, your gifts will sink and could end up being hidden behind the front of the basket.
• Take your heftiest and sturdiest item and secure it at the center of the basket. This will keep everything centered and help prevent your gift from tipping over.
• Start to place the remaining items around the center item. Keep in mind, smaller items might not be visible from the front if you place them at the back of the basket.
• Use tissue paper to create space between the different items in the basket, and use tape if necessary to help pieces stay together.
• Once all of the items have been placed into the basket, secure everything together with a layer or two of cellphone. Tape the top portion of the cellophane together, kind of like how you’d place an elastic around a ponytail, then tie a few pieces of ribbon around the tape.
• Curl the ribbon, and you’re all done!

Handwritten notes are a really thoughtful way to share your feelings and show someone how much you enjoy the relationship you have with them. It’s also a very practical way for your loved one to know who exactly the gift is from, especially if you’re not going to be giving it to them in person! It doesn’t really matter whether you tuck your note inside the basket or tape it to the front, but it makes a really sweet finishing touch.

perfect presents come from the heart.

The fact you’re interested in putting together a special gift basket for someone you love means you really, truly care about making them smile. While it can be a bit nerve-wracking to try to find not just one perfect gift, but a whole basket worth, your friends and family will likely be super grateful for the effort you put into creating something just for them.

After all, there’s nothing more special than feeling loved and cared for — and a gift from the heart does just that.

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