What would you put in your gift basket?

There are many occasions when a gift basket is a present that will be cherished and appreciated, even though it is not something people often think of. For many, the occasion that most brings to mind baskets is Easter. Easter baskets are generally full of eggs – either real hens’ eggs or chocolate eggs – and are sometimes accompanied by a bunch of Easter flowers. Taking your Easter eggs out from their cardboard packaging and putting them in a basket instead is a nice, traditional way to celebrate the Easter festival. Christmas is the other big time of year for baskets, and this time they are full of rich Christmas foods, such as Christmas pudding and cake. If you make or buy a Christmas basket, be careful not to overdo it – the food is so rich that if you fill the basket right up, you might not even manage to eat all the food before it expires! Harvest season is another big time for baskets, as they can be filled with fruit and veg that you’ve grown yourself and presented to your friends and neighbours as presents. It’s a fun way to make friends with the whole town. Anniversaries and birthdays can be nicely celebrated with more personal baskets, such as baskets full of wine or flowers. A florist will be able to choose nice flowers to put in a basket for you, and some wine comes pre-delivered in gift baskets anyway – you could even mix the two. Another thing to try is to package completely normal presents in baskets, just as you would with a gift box or wrapping paper. This way the recipient gets a basket as an extra present, and will be surprised that whatever’s in the basket isn’t what a basket usually contains – it could be a great surprise to take the DVD box-set your girlfriend’s been wanting and put it in a basket!

Gift baskets are arguably one of the oldest and most traditional presents around

Humans have definitely made baskets for tens of thousands of years, with the earliest baskets found being around 12,000 years old (they were found in Egypt) – but some believe that basket making may have been practiced as long as a million years ago. Basically, for as long as people have had something to carry, they have picked plants and made containers from them. It is an understandable animal instinct – even a bird’s nest is, after all, a kind of basket. Throughout history, baskets have been made with whatever material was closest to hand – willow, twigs, bamboo, wheat, grass, wicker and even glass, plastic and metal in modern times have all been used to make baskets, and all work very well, although in general the baskets made from more solid materials will be more sturdy. The chances are that you use a basket yourself quite often – a metal shopping basket is just as much a basket as any other, and follows many of the same principles of construction. People in poorer countries today still use plant-material baskets for many practical purposes, making them by hand from the local wild plants and carrying them around on their heads, just as was done in Ancient Greece. Some primitive houses in these areas bear a striking resemblance to baskets in their construction, as basket making is one of the few skills the people have. Baskets were used by hunter-gatherers to bring back large amounts of fish, fruit and nuts – and, interestingly enough, it is still popular to give these things in gift baskets today. Gift baskets are arguably one of the oldest and most traditional presents around, and that applies not only in the West but also throughout the world. An ornate basket full of fresh produce is one of the nicest gifts you can give someone – baskets are not only beautiful, after all, but are capable of holding anything.