The all time favorite gift to give: the gift… basket?
Spend Less TV’s categories are brimming with videos featuring amazing budget–friendly holiday shopping tips and gifting ideas. We’ve sifted through our 20 categories to find some of the most helpful for making your holiday gifts festive, your friends and family smile, and your wallet happy.
We happen to love that universal great gift, The Gift Basket. You can create a fantastic “basket” for as much or as little expense as fits your budget or your desire. They are the ultimate for creativity, versatility and flexibility, and a basket doesn’t even have to be a basket! Add a more personal touch and a “wow” factor by using a unique vessel to hold your collection of gift items. (pictured above: coffee-table games in an over-sized fish bowl that can be used to hold flowers, serve goldfish crackers, or even be a home to a real fish later)
In addition to having good savings tips, the videos below will serve as inspiration as they reveal gift basket possibilities… and we’ll toss in a few of our own tips to get you started.
Gift Baskets:
Gift Baskets, Make ‘em Creative! – Creative Juice
Gift Baskets for the Holidays – Grocery School
Garden:
Select the Right Tree for Your Yard, Get More for Your Money – Editor-in Chief Better Homes and Gardens
Gardening Gifts – Phyllis Stephens, KXLY4
Gardening Great Gifts under $40 – CleanAirGardening.com
Gift Idea: Take a gardening bag, or big bright colorful plastic paint bucket, fill with various hand tools, a re-usable water bottle (for the gardener), sunscreen, sun visor, gloves, plastic clogs or flip-flops, and some seed packets.
Fashion:
Celeb Jewelry for Less – The Lia Sophia Line
Designer for Less – Jen Groover
Luxury Labels For Less, Online – Vera Gibbons
Clothes Swap – Shoestring Mag. & Punkystyle Blog
Affordable Handbags with StyleList.com
Gift Idea, for her: Take decorative hatbox, fill with vintage jewelry, scarves, delicate gloves, a beautiful belt, lingerie, perfume samples, and maybe… even a hat!
Gift Idea, for him: Find a box from a home goods or craft store that could sit on a dresser or desk top, fill with cuff links, a belt, pocket squares, a scarf, gloves, cologne samples, and maybe… even a hat!
Electronics:
Blu-ray vs DVD – a Comparison Report
Buy Extended Warranties? – June Walbert
Coupon Codes for Electronics, too! – Brads Deals
Energy Saving TV’s – Find the Best – Brooke Carlson
Tech Holiday Gifts, How to Save $ – Good Housekeeping
Gift Idea: A small vintage suitcase would make a great container for any Techie Basket. Fill with surge protector, extension cords, fasteners to keep cords tangle-free, batteries, a label maker, and a gift certificate for mp3 downloads or a DVD delivery service.
Food, Drink, Cooking:
99 Cents Only Store Cookbook – Spinach Artichoke Tarts
99 Cents Only Store Cookbook Recipe – Little Pumpkin Pies
Champagne & Sparkling Wines – Epicurious.com
Cocktails – Festive & Budget – Dee Brun
Go Gourmet: Impress Guests for Less – Hope Fox
How to Buy a Xmas Ham
Wine Bargains & How to Find Them – David Ohr
Wine for Less – Martin Sinkoff
Wine: 10 Extraordinary Tips Save Time & Money
Gift Idea: Of course the topic of food, drink, and cooking is enormous and there are endless possibilities… don’t forget a cookbook or a recipe card makes a great enhancement to any basket!
A foodie idea: Take a pie pan, fill with apples, a card with grandma’s famous apple pie recipe, spices from the recipe, a cool pie slicer-server, a pot holder, and wrap it all up in an oversized nifty new dish towel.
A wine idea: Take a galvanized bucket from the hardware store, or a ‘real’ ice bucket, and in the bucket place 2 bottles of wine (Two Buck Chuck, anyone?), two gourmet cheeses, a box of your favorite crackers or a loaf of hearty bread, and a little bamboo cutting board.
Beauty/Cosmetics:
Amazing Beauty Tips for Less – Diane Irons
Aspirin Facial Mask – Michelle Phan
Beauty Secrets From Your Kitchen – Rachel Hayes
Beauty Secrets of Models & Celebrities with At Home Items! - Diane Irons
Beauty: Best Bargains – Paula Begoun
Skincare Drugstore Discoveries – Jan Marini
Take advantage of those frequent cosmetic give-aways for free samples or totes that can be added in for extra pizazz.
Gift Idea: for her and/or him: The items mentioned in the beauty/cosmetic videos above would be great to gather together for a spa basket: get a big beautiful plastic or stainless steel bowl and fill with as many items as you can find, along with a few new washcloths, hand towels, and a scented candle or two, include the instructions, and to kick it up a notch: a bathrobe.
Gift Idea for her: Take a vintage milk bottle holder, or a rustic wooden fruit crate and place in that : a loofa, back brush, pumice stone, some votive candles, decorative bottles that you’ve filled with bath salts and bubble baths, (vintage or new, the bottles are inexpensive and you can use corks for the tops if needed), and a coupon or I.O.U. for a massage.
Gift Idea for him: A galvanized bucket or bin filled with a loofa, back brush, pumice stone, matching scented: soap, shaving cream and shower gel, and a coupon or I.O.U. for a massage.
General:
Gift-Giving for Less – Kimberly Danger
Green Gift Ideas – Danny Seo
It was no easy task to narrow down the selection, so check through the categories from time to time to catch the many more terrific money-saving and creative tips we didn’t have room to include here, and remember we post a new video everyday, so check back to keep up with the inventory…or please consider subscribing to receive notice as soon as new videos are posted.
So, you get the idea! We’re open to suggestions - do you have a favorite Gift “Basket” Tip?
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