DIY Gift Baskets

Courtesy of Cherry Blossom Floral

It’s that time of year, when you are considering your Christmas shopping budget. You could be considering your lack of one too. Instead of a run to the mall or hovering over your laptop, you could make or assemble your gifts. I’m a big assembler.

DIY Baskets

       I save any decorative box, basket or tin for this purpose. I also pick up baskets at yard sales and thrift shops.

Coffee or Tea basket- Include a pound of coffee or tea boxes, cups, a box of cookies, and possibly a chocolate bar.

Cook’s Basket- Works as a wedding and house warming gift too. Group hard to find and essential tools together. Suggestions: garlic press, cheese slicer, cheese grater, bottle opener, corkscrew, pan scraper, vegetable brush, cheese cloth, dish cloth, dish towel, hot pad, egg timer, kitchen timer, meat thermometer, egg separator, whisk, wooden spoon, slotted spoon, measuring cups, butter brush, and measuring spoons. (Most of these items are available at the Dollar Tree.)

Couch Potato Basket- Think of the recipient’s favorite junk food. A universal remote, TV Guide, and a DVD is a nice touch too.

Emergency Kit- This isn't for your survivalist friend, but something kept in the car for personal emergencies as opposed to the end of the world kind. Contents can vary depending on the sex of the person. It is also great for the traveler. A small zippered pouch or even a pencil bag works great.

Contents: granola bar, water enhancer mix, gun, mints, individual packet of aspirin, antacid, bandages (2), wet wipes (2), small package of tissues, small deodorant, perfume or cologne samples, tiny sewing kit, comb, emery board, dental floss, Wisps tiny toothbrush, lip gloss or Chapstick, and a small bottle of hand cream.

Hot Chocolate Basket- This is the same as the coffee basket with hot chocolate tin or mixes, candy canes, marshmallows and a small stuffed animal. (This one could go to a younger relative or friend.)

Italian Dinner Basket- Spaghetti sauce, pesto, salami, breadsticks, Italian cookbook and pasta.

Movie Lovers Basket- This is similar to the couch potato basket, but it is heavy on DVDs. It should include popcorn and movie candy. (Walmart, Big Lots, even Amazon are great places for cheap DVDs.) You don’t have to get the latest movies, but stick to a theme depending on the person. A big fluffy throw can line the basket too.

Scrapbook Basket- Fill it up with multi-colored Sharpies, wooden stamps, stickers, craft scissors, and a gift card to the local craft store. A small scrapbook works too. (Scrapbooking is expensive, which means this might be on ongoing shopping project. Buy out of season stickers once the season passed. Dollar Tree has several of these items too. Michaels features a 40% off coupon in their weekly ad. )  

Teacher Basket- Teachers spend major dollars supplying their own classroom. They don’t need any more teacher-themed accessories for their desks. They could use a heavy-duty stapler, good scissors, Sharpies, large paper clips, pushpins, Post-it notes, yearly planner, colored pencils, dry erase markers, box of generic notecards for personal notes, and a calendar for the classroom. Depending on the age of the students, you might include aspirin, stickers, and wooden stamp and an inkpad.

Romantic Picnic Basket- A picnic basket with a tablecloth & napkins, plates, wine glasses and a bottle of wine. (I’ve picked up picnic baskets at yard sales and thrift shops. Check out the clearance section in home and discount stores for tablecloth and napkins.  A patterned tablecloth hides stains too.  Single wineglasses are available at the Dollar Tree or Goodwill.)

You can create all sorts of baskets. One of my standbys is the generic basket. It’s for when someone gives you a present you didn’t expect. It also works for people you don’t know well.

The Generic Basket- small to medium basket, which can include, but not necessarily all, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, cups (2), cookies, chocolate, nuts, and an ornament.

Romantic Gift Basket 

Winning Contests, Raffles, and Sweepstakes

Jumping for Joy

Let me start this out by admitting, I’ve never won the lottery jackpot.  I’ve won several other things including:

·         Grocery Shopping spree

·         Calvin Klein Wardrobe

·         Flowers

·         Tickets to movies, events, and concerts

·         Food

·         Chocolate

·         Books

·         DVDs

·         Gym membership

·         Trips

·         Amazon Gift Cards

·         Starbuck Gift Cards

What all of these things have in common is that I entered to win. I never got a mysterious email stating I won a contest I never entered. This is a phishing scam that will either solicit your credit card number or ask you to pay shipping.  A variation of this is they’ll ship the items, and then tell you you’re obligated to pay for them or you’ll be turned over to collections. If you didn’t order it, postal guidelines are you don’t have to pay for it.  If you want to avoid the barrage of threats, send it back.

Second secret to winning is enter when there is a small pool of applicants. That’s usually a local contest for a short time period. Publisher’s Clearing House or Powerball aren’t a good bet. People often spend chunks of money chasing after a winning number combination. There are commercials about how someone won forty million dollars. The flipside is people have gone bankrupt or to jail for writing bad checks in an attempt to buy thousands of dollars in lottery tickets. A couple dollars isn’t too bad, but when you’re skimping on other things to justify it, you’ve crossed the line.

Some effort is involved. On the grocery contest, I raced my grocery cart around competing against other shoppers trying to grab $200 worth of food and check out. The winner snagged groceries for a year. As a runner up, I got a $100 gift certificate. Not too bad, when you consider I didn’t win.

Enter contests that require some skill from writing a jingle to a cute photo of your pet. Often people will bypass a contest that expects something. Read the rules carefully. Occasionally, there’s a prompt to answer.   Disqualification happens because people fail to follow the rules. If you’re writing about using a product, mention the product by its full name.

Location is another item to consider. Particularly your location, this weekend I was at an author faire with a listed giveaway time. People entered and drifted away.  When no winner came forward, a new ticket was drawn.

Enter often. My daughter remarks that I win every time, but I don’t. I enter hundreds of contests, and every now and then, I win something. One of the easy wins for me is radio contests. I always have the radio on; it makes sense to enter a contest that involves listening to the radio.

Go small. It’s easier to win a quilt or a hanging basket at the local church picnic than it is the lottery. It’s still a good feeling.

Be careful of contests that are only building mailing lists. These are usually at big events including state fairs and concerts.  If you don’t mind getting a call about replacement windows or timeshares, then go ahead and enter.

Beware of spending too much time, entering contests. What’s too much time? My guideline is more than 10 minutes a day. Don’t enter a contest if you don’t want any of the finalist prizes.

Some contests don’t deliver. You may have won, but you never get the prize. Happened to me once. Wrote to the company, even copied my winning announcement letter. Nothing. As a result, I never entered any contest sponsored by that company again.

Your local lottery or casino plasters posters of winners holding up an oversized check to prove they actually give away the money. Go with contests you know have proven winners too. In the end, it is about luck, but believing you’re a winner helps too.