Bountiful Baskets These Home-Created Gifts Can Be So Personalized That They Meet The Exact Needs Of The Recipient

Picture the Y2K equivalent of the box lunch, the now defunct fund-raiser from a century ago where community women would stuff boxes with their best home-baked goodies and then auction them off.

First Presbyterian Church in downtown Spokane takes the concept a step further this Sunday by auctioning off some 200 gift baskets - all home-created by the teens and adults in the congregation.

This event has raised approximately $17,000 each year for the past 10 years, and the drop-dead gorgeous gift baskets have become an inspiration to home do-it-yourself basket makers.

The money goes to buy building supplies for the church’s youth program. During spring break, the kids will construct nine homes in Tijuana for poor families.

“The homes are small by American standards, just two rooms and no bathroom,” says Judy Heid, administrative assistant for student ministries, which sponsors the auction. “But they’re way more (house) than the people have ever had.”

Each of the 88 students who will work on the mission project is required to donate at least two baskets (or single items) for the auction. Each year the church holds a training class to teach would-be basketers how to create more bang for the basket-buck.

More often than not, the moms get involved. Big time.

“You’re competing against more than 200 baskets,” explains Kay Johnson, a veteran do-it-yourself gift basket creator. Her 17-year-old daughter, Analiese, will make her second trip to Mexico this spring. “So your basket has to be very clever to get the big bids.”

This year Johnson has designed a basket called Barbie-Bash. It’s the perfect gift basket for a Barbie-loving little girl. All the makings for a fabulous Barbie-party are in the basket, from the Barbie dishware and decorations to a gift certificate for the Barbie cake. The basket even includes a real, live Barbie, complete with tiara, who’ll make a guest appearance as the party’s hostess. Barbie will be played by Analiese Johnson.

Certainly, gift baskets are hot. They’re also spendy if you buy them ready-made. But you can save bundles by making the baskets yourself.

Johnson, who’s created dozens of the beauties, says it’s not only fun, it’s easy.

Plus, she says, home-created baskets can be so personalized that they meet the exact needs of the occasion and the recipient.

Here are a few of her tips:

Buy your baskets at the thrift stores. Johnson rarely spends more than a couple of dollars for a basket.

Pick a theme, then fill your basket accordingly. Themes can center around a recipient’s interests, or an occasion. For a golden wedding anniversary, for instance, Johnson spray-painted a basket gold, then filled it with fluted goblets (also purchased at the thrift store), sparkling cider, and dried roses she also painted gold.

For esthetic beauty, try to keep the goodies in your basket color-coordinated.

Find the treats that go inside the baskets at the discount stores and on clearance shelves. (For example, Valentine’s candy that was recently marked down makes a lovely tuck-in when transferred to a decorative container and then placed in the basket. Those containers, like little plastic boxes, can also be found at thrift stores for pennies.)

Set a limit on what you’ll pay for your goodies. Many do-it-yourselfers try to select items that look like they’re worth far more than what they paid. One basket creator considers it her personal challenge to keep items at a dollar apiece.

When you buy your goodies, consider how they’ll all look and fit in your basket. Beautiful baskets are all about presentation - the lovely way they’re assembled. Select your goodies in varying sizes and shapes.

Find the filler material (the stuff you cradle the gifts in) at craft shops and floral shops; or just use crumpled, colored tissue paper.

Floral supply houses also have the colored cellophanes that often grace gift baskets.

Select one or two items to be the center focal point that the rest of the items complement (in the case of the golden anniversary basket, it was the goblets and cider).

Look around floral and gift shops for even more ideas. Better yet, imitate ideas from First Presbyterian’s basket auction.

Last year’s high-selling basket was called Moon River and it included a night at Cavanaughs River Inn with deluxe accommodations and gift certificates for breakfast and dinner. It sold for $120. A week at a Priest Lake cabin, which brought $820, was the high-selling single item.

One of the standouts from last year, says Heid, was a basket that pleased college students and their families. It promised a box of homemade cookies would be sent to the bidder’s out-of-town college student once a month for a year.

Another wasn’t a basket at all, but a blue plastic bucket filled with car wash supplies and a gift certificate for three hand car washes at your home performed by one of the kids heading for Tijuana.

The fund-raiser, Heid says, is open to the public. It’s a great place to pick up ideas for your own basket-making endeavors.