Learn arrange gift baskets as your home business.
Making gift baskets is a popular home business. Making a gift basket special is only limited by your creativity. A successful home gift basket business has a low overhead and can be started from a kitchen table in your spare time.
Instructions
1. Decide upon what types of baskets you will make: you can offer a wide selection of gift baskets, specialize in a particular holiday or gift-giving occasion, or create only completely customizable baskets.
Popular categories of baskets include gourmet food, bath and body products and baby shower baskets.
2. Go shopping. Look for items in specialty catalogs, online distributors and craft sights. Inquire about purchasing in bulk for a discount, if possible. Add your name to newsletter mailing lists of distributors to stay current with their new products and sale items. Purchase quantities of small filler items that can be repackaged. Keep your inventory small at first; once you're established, shopping time will have to be figured into your weekly schedule.
3. Build a gift basket by pairing several inexpensive items with a more expensive gift. Place the large item in the center back of the basket. Large baskets can be built up by creating a false bottom with cardboard, foam blocks and shredded paper. Add the smaller items around the large piece, alternating side by side for a balanced look. Move the pieces around until it is visually appealing. Consider using wire and florist picks for small items---wrap and poke them into foam blocks to raise them.
4. Exchange a basket for a container that becomes part of the gift itself for more of an impact. Use a kitchen item like a soup pot or colander. A hat box, tin or small crate is another interesting choice for a gift basket. Consider looking through secondhand shops for gently used containers that will make for an interesting gift container.
5. Cover the basket with cellophane, tulle or shrink-wrapped bags of plastic. Tie the basket with a long length of ribbon and a large bow. Clear wrap allows the gift recipient and the purchaser of your gift basket a chance to get a sneak peek of what is inside.
