Baskets full of gift ideas

One of the best parts of the holiday gift-giving season, particularly for shop-aholics, is that buying for others rather than just yourself is guilt-free! Though, this is still not an excuse to go haywire--I doubt your friends and family would enjoy their gifts very much if it meant that you had to file for bankruptcy. The most artful aspect of Bargain Hunting involves your ability to think creatively when faced with spending limits. My favorite thing to do for Christmas gifts, and also the plethora of December birthdays I know, is to put together "gift baskets." Below is a list of some ideas to get you started, and where to find many of the items at affordable prices.

Some basic items you will need for all your baskets: various sized baskets or decorative boxes, tissue paper, clear plain or colored plastic cellophane, ribbon.

All of these items can be found at a dollar or discount store.

If you want to get especially creative and fancy with your baskets, you can also get mulitple kinds/colors of ribbon, silk flowers, and tulle or crenoline.

These items can be found at your basic craft or fabric store.

The hardest part is probably brainstorming the ideas or theme for your basket. While a general theme is very cute and clever, sometimes just filling a basket with different things that you know the person you are buying for likes or enjoys can be very heartfelt.

Some theme ideas:

~a movie night basket filled with: a dvd or movie passes, microwave popcorn packets, assorted candy

~a gardening basket filled with: gloves, small garden tools, seed packets, sunscreen

~a reader's basket filled with: a recent bestseller or classic favorite, a large mug, packets of tea or hot chocolate

~a writer's basket filled with: a decorative pen, a blank book, stationary

Many of these items can be found at stores like the Christmas Tree Shop, Pier 1, or Home Goods. Even discount retail chains like Big Lots, Ocean State Job Lot, or Xpect Discounts or Marc's will have great deals on basics and regular items like Christmas decorations, mugs, picture frames, gardening tools, or even drink mixes (tea, cider, hot chocolate, or otherwise). If you do a good job with your presentation, no one will ever guess where you got the particulars.

Those are just a few to get you started on your own brainstorming. You can even get creative about the container for your "gift basket" itself--mix it up a little by stuffing a stocking, filling a large mug, or even a tote bag or purse. Remember--its bad luck to give a purse without putting money in it, so make sure you drop a few cents into one of the pockets before you present it to its recipient!

For online shoppers

If you'd rather avoid the frantic and often chaotic over-packed malls this holiday season, I for one do not blame you. However, browsing items online is difficult when you are buying for someone and you are not sure what to get them. The simple efficiency of the internet eliminates the tactile nature of what happens when you go through a store and get to pick up items, feel them, or even smell them, which may often help you to decide what to purchase. For these instances, I've found a website called, very simply, Gifts. This is a great creative resource that you can use for gift shopping year-round, and has a variety of categories to help you narrow your search, including gender, age, occasion, etc. If nothing else, this tool can even help you decide what to get before you go out to the stores themselves, by helping you brain storm and sort through ideas.

Please cover your mouth while you watch this...

Moving past the whole Clay Aiken thing, the new reason to tune in to Regis and Kelly in the morning are the segments they are featuring on inexpensive gift ideas. Today, they had some unique ideas for hostess gifts that are bargain alternatives to your traditional bottle of wine. One that I thought that was rather clever was taking a decorative glass bottle of olive oil (which could be found at stores like Pier 1, a long-time favorite of mine) and wrapping it in a new decorative dish towel. Both clever, and functional, and in the end, quite a bargain!