Housewarming Gift Basket

Our friends recently moved into a new home and I wanted to bring them a little housewarming gift. I was trying to think of something clever and simple that I haven't done before. After consulting Pinterest, I came across various versions of a "It's a Wonderful Life" inspired baskets. I really like the three wishes each ingredients sends. 

Bread, that this house may never know hunger. 
I picked up a rustic looking country loaf from the grocery store. If I had more time I would have baked it myself. 

Salt, that this life may always have flavor. 
I found a rather large gourmet sea salt grinder at Marshall's (my favorite store, of course). 

Wine, that joy and prosperity may reign forever.
Any bottle of wine or sparking grape juice is perfect. I wrapped it in a pretty tea towel to add color. 

All you need is a cute basket to hold them all and your gift is pretty much done.

FREE PRINTABLE TAGS
I designed my own tags, printed them on white card stock, cut them out and attached them with white baking string. Simply save and print the above page if you'd like to use them! Or you can hand write your own for a more personal touch.

Any new homeowner will be blessed by a sweet basket like this. 

Ultimate Coffee Gift Box

For Christmas, I made a coffee themed gift basket for Andrew's parents. They love coffee! All the time. It could be 11pm and they're making another pot of joe. I thought it might be nice to give them a matching set of coffee mugs, along with some other related treats. 

Aren't these "coffee" mugs perfect? I found them at the Christmas Tree Shop. I think I snagged the last 8 they had. However, one "cocoa" mug accidentally wound up in my cart - oops. 

I also found this adorable kitchen towel

Holiday napkins

Biscotti

Strawberry Peach preserves (love the name)

And a heavy gift box with a lid to assemble it in - all at the Christmas Tree Shop

Can't forget the main ingredient - a bag of coffee!

I lined the box with tissue paper and put the mugs on each side. The lid sat underneath the box.

I arranged the other goodies in the middle. It was a perfect fit!

I wrapped the whole box with iridescent cellophane (also from CTS),

and folded the sides underneath and secured them with tape. 

All that was left was to tie a pretty bow around the middle and add a little card. Who wouldn't like to receive this? 

I should have worked at "Create a Gift." Anyone remember that place? This would be a great housewarming or bridal shower gift. You could add some fancy cookies, chocolates, tea or hot cocoa. Be creative! It's not as difficult as you might think. Your recipient will appreciate the thought that went into this customized gift.  

Here are a few other gift basket ideas:

Coffee and Tea gift box

Gardening themed gift basket

House Warming / Wedding gift basket

I really like making these. Maybe I should make this part of my side business...

Gardening Easter Basket

As much as I enjoy making gift baskets, I enjoy receiving them as well! Look at this adorable gardening themed Easter basket that Aunt Mary gave us. She made one for each couple this Easter. 

Gardening gloves (you can never have enough of those), a spade and a tomato plant. As the tomato plant grows, it will remind us of the new life that Jesus Christ gave us through His death and resurrection. Well put Aunt Mary.  

Along with jelly beans, milk chocolate and oh-so-rich-homemade-Ohl-family-tradition peanut butter eggs. Sugar? Check. 


Add some ribbon and a silk flower for decoration. What a cute blessing. You could pick up these items and make your own basket for not a lot of money. It would make a great housewarming, Mother's/Father's day or gardening-lovers gift. 

This guy was very interested in it as well.

How to Assemble a House Warming/Wedding Gift Basket

I like putting together gift baskets. I don't know why they're so much fun for me. Maybe it's the thrill figuring out what the recipient would like and then tracking down just the right items, with the challenge of trying not to break the bank. You can put together a do-it-yourself basket for any occasion. Birthday, wedding, baby shower. I think it adds a personalized touch and really shows the thoughtfulness behind it.

Myself and 3 girlfriends put our heads together to make a wedding/house warming gift basket for our bride-to-be friend, Michele. You may remember her making ice cream sundaes here. I was in charge of picking up the goodies and assembling it, which is right up my alley!

First, I had to find a basket that would hold everything, and one that would be practical later on. Maybe they can use it to store blankets in their living room or tote laundry. I found a really nice one at Christmas Tree Shops (love that store), for $9.99. And it has handles.

Christmas Tree Shops also had wine glasses, of all sizes, for $1.99 each.

What goes with wine glasses? Good wine. To incorporate the wedding theme, I looked for wine bottles with some type of "love" label. This one was perfect.

Even more perfect, was this bottle of "Wild Horse" red wine, since the soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. last name is Wild. I'm not making this up.

A set of adorable glass picture frame coasters, to protect their coffee table. $7 from Bon-Ton. I could see some wedding photos in these...

A yummy maple vanilla scented candle, also from Christmas Tree Shops, $3.99.

A super soft blanket for snuggling by the fire. According to the label, this "Fluffie Throw" is "Our cuddliest throw ever. Bigger than the standard throw!" I definitely wanted to keep it. But I was generous, and gave it away. Found it at Marshall's for $16.99.

Once I had all the pieces, I started putting them together. I used the paper that the wine glasses were wrapped in to act as filler on the bottom of the basket. This allowed everything to sit higher and look more full.

The biggest item, the blanket, was put in first as the base.

I placed the wine bottles as bookends on either side, since they would need to lean on the back of the basket. I started adding yellow tissue paper around the items to pretty it up.

Then I carefully arranged the glasses on either side, propping them up with more tissue paper. I put the candle and coasters in front, because they were the lowest items and could lean on the blanket. I added more tissue paper to fill in the holes.

A two layer bow, with orange and brown ribbon to finish it off, incorporating their fall wedding colors. Add some confetti or tinsel inside the glasses if you like.  

Voila! See, that wasn't so hard. You could make a basket like this for a date night or special occasion. Wouldn't you love to receive one of these? Hopefully Michele and Aaron won't read this and see what things cost... They are getting hitched next weekend! Can't wait to see them say "I do."