By Missy Moody
It’s the holiday season, and that means on with the boxing gloves to fight off all the other mall shoppers. Perhaps you have 20 friends and you feel you need to buy gifts for all of them. Unfortunately, that can be very expensive and time-consuming – you can spend days combing the shops around town for a special gift for each and every one of them. Or maybe you’re buying gifts for someone incredibly hard to shop for. Your dad or your boyfriend can be difficult enough to figure out in everyday life, so when it comes to Christmas presents, forget about it.
If fighting off the crowds doesn’t appeal to you, you can get a little creative and maybe a little messy this year and make unique gifts that will appeal to almost all of your friends. Think of it as the Sam’s Club of holiday gift-giving – shopping without a bed-rest or a bank loan.
Ready-made bath gift baskets with bath products from stores like Bath and Body Works in the St. Matthews Mall are a good option, and baskets of specialty food make for another good option. World Market on Shelbyville Road offers specialty crates of beer with an assortment of ales or international beers, and at Paul’s Fruit Market, fruit, candy or chocolate baskets and boxes can be purchased for $16.95-$99.95. You can also create your own food baskets with a bottle of wine, cheese, candy or bakery products.
Bath in a basket
For all of your girlfriends, moms, aunts and grandmothers, you can buy in bulk and create original and individualized gift baskets for each of them. Put together bath salts, bubble bath, a fancy bar of soap, foot scrub, body powder and an herbal eye pillow in a funky basket or container, and they’re sure to be happy.
You can purchase these items separately at a store like Target, but if you’re feeling creative, all of the gifts in the basket can be homemade. The bath salts, with only three ingredients, are incredibly easy to make, while the soap and eye pillow get a tad more difficult. (See the sidebar at left for homemade bath salt recipes.) Most of the ingredients for bath products can be found at health food stores like Wild Oats in Shelbyville Road Plaza, and if you buy in bulk, you will be able to make gift baskets for all of the women – and men – in your life. If you’re interested in creating a bath gift basket for men, just add some after-shave, cologne or shaving lotion, all which can be concocted in your kitchen as well.
Make it personal
Gift baskets can always be personalized, so they’re especially good for people who are hard to please. Some knowledge of the person’s hobbies or interests can be your road to success. You can create a fisherman’s gift basket with bait, lures and fishing wire, all which can be found at any sporting goods store.
For music lovers, throw together a crate of homemade mix CDs or cassette tapes, blank CD-Rs, nice headphones and a cool old album cover (with the album inside, hopefully), which can cost as little as a dollar at stores like the Book and Music Exchange on Bardstown Road. Even if the recipient doesn’t like the band, the cover will make for great wall decoration.
Writers and readers might like a blank journal, some nice ink pens, a good book and maybe a mini reading light. A great idea for students is a college- or dorm-themed gift basket with ceiling glow stars, office supplies, stationary and stamps, a poster, books and board games (the travel varieties are especially fun).
Keep it simple
For a smaller, simpler version of the gift basket, you can pair like items, still sticking to a theme. Write the first entry in a journal and wrap it up in brown paper with a fountain pen (check Michael’s on Hurstbourne Lane for some classy models). For someone who knits, purchase some hand-woven or cashmere yarn and several different sizes of knitting needles, also at Michael’s. All you need to make this type of gift work is a general knowledge of the interests of the person you are shopping for.
Often gift baskets seem too general or easy, but a personalized, homemade gift basket can be a special treat for your friends and family – and the possibilities are endless. Add a framed photo, a handwritten card or a poem to any basket to make it especially meaningful. Inexpensive baskets and containers of all shapes and sizes can be found at shops like World Market in Shelbyville Road Plaza, Dee’s Crafts on Shelbyville Road or Garden Ridge on Blankenbaker Parkway. So go stock up on ribbons, baskets and imagination, and you can make gifts that everyone on your list will love.
