Hamper boxes/baskets

[Im a BusyBee]

i have to make up 30 hampers for christmas can anyone suggest something to put the items in please? it will be bottle wine, chocolates, biscuits, nuts etc that has to go in them.

[VillageVicar]

Can you suggest a budget you're working with please? I don't want to start offering you a Fortnum & Masons list, if your budget is more along the lines of Argus....

Fr. Bill

[Im a BusyBee]

well i am making them up myself (not sure if i made myself clear sorry) its just something cheap and cheerful to keep the things nicely together. was hoping to order something off the internet but dont know where to start looking. It could either be a basket or hat box type of box or i suppose even a plastic storage tub that sould be useful afterwards.

[VillageVicar]

We do simple shoe-boxes for our children at my mission in Moldova. They�re lined with coloured tissues or napkins. We then fill them with age appropriate gifts.

Here at home, last year my daughter purchased the equivalent of wicker Easter baskets. She then wove Blackwatch plaid ribbon around the handles and attached a red bow that she had entertwined with gold lame ribbon.

In the baskets she placed miniature Tiptree jams, a small tin of foie gras, water crackers, a bottle of pure vanilla extract (most of our friends love baking), a small but extremely bright key-chain torch, which she bought from ebay. Mary also added a bars of luxury chocolates and some rather large cinnamon sticks, which she tied with more gold lame ribbon. For families who had pets, she added chew sticks or catnip sachets, which she tied with a dark-blue heavy thread. And finally, she added her famous chocolate chip, pecan, walnut biscuits, buy stacking them in groups of six and wrapping them in a coloured cling film. As I recall, the foie gras was the most expensive part of the gifts and we actually didn�t give everyone foie gras (being sensitive to their views on the product). In its place she place tiny clay pots of herb de province, which she got at Fortnums. They actually cost a fraction of the foie gras but in my opinion looked much nicer.

Each basket had a small hand-made card attached with a thread through a punched hole in the corner. I wish we could attach photos of things as it would be helpful, as my ability to describe it is clearly rather poor. It was absolutely lovely! And I�m ever so proud of her for her creativity and thoughtfulness.

I wish you well

Fr Bill

[Im a BusyBee]

they do sound wonderful but probably not appropriate in this instance - these are for butch construction workers who will, ultimately, only be interested in the contents! i need to find someone that knows of a website where i will be able to purchase,as i said, some functional box/basket/tub type of thing to keep them all together.

[VillageVicar]

Ahhhhh now it becomes MUCH clearer! May I suggest traditional metal lunchboxes, lined with something colourful and packed accordingly with rough hand guy stuff :-) I'll see if I can find a site for you with some examples. Apologies...I hadn't picked up on the butch construction worker aspect..

Fr Bill

[VillageVicar]

I'm sure I'm stretching it a bit, but have a look here. Mary reminds me that we did a few for 'guys' as well, which had Swiss Army knives, small torches, and something called 'bag balm' which is a bit like tiger balm, but without the kick. I can't remember how much the Swiss Army knives were but Mary says they cost about the same as the foie gras...those baskets, of course, still had biscuits and other bits in them..but none of the LOL stuff (little old lady)..

http://www.46lepage.ca/templates/details.cfm?I temNo=BXM108&type=CustomSearch&PageNo=1

If I can find a place for retro miner's pales, I'll send you a link.

Be well

Fr Bill

[Im a BusyBee]

they would be excellent but unfortunately i am in uk and they are in canada!! is that where you are too? thanks so much for all your trouble.

[VillageVicar]

No, I'm in the UK. You'll note that they ship to the UK. There's a Union Jack where you can covert the quote to Sterling. I thought it was an excellent idea...you could even squeeze into the box top an exotic beer or similar!

Good luck

Fr Bill

[annie0000]

Unless you want to see what boxes you can pick up in the supermarket, I would try somewhere like Ikea or Poundstretcher for something suitable - they often have cheap basketware or even these :

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/301 15599

or these:
http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/100 87738