Good morning everyone and Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend and ready to hit the week running. We are officially only a week and a half to Thanksgiving so I’m sure many of you are eagerly making preparations for the holidays, I just started stockpiling the necessary ingredients myself for what I am bringing. And some of you might be taking some extra days off for a extra long weekend, I may be taking the Friday after myself to jumpstart my holiday decorating around the house!
For today, as promised, I wanted to do a post all about Michael’s gift baskets but this had me thinking. Instead of a Coffee Break, I decided to do a new category: Party Planning Committee. I felt that if Dunder Mifflin felt party planning was important enough to create a committee for it then it could be a fun piece of Breakroom Breakdown. So this would mean I am officially the head of the Party Planning Committee over here.
So what is a gift basket? It is quite literally a basket full of gifts (or it itself is the gift). A common example we hear of are fruit baskets where the basket is filled with assorted fruits. While I do enjoy fruit, I was a big fan of Michael’s baskets because they included a wide variety of food options. He also opted for sealed items which are more beneficial than fruit since they do not have that tight expiration period. While it is possible to buy gift baskets already put together, I feel there is something special about making them yourself. You really can put your personal spin on them, and can really customize them for the recipient. In the case of Michael, he was insistent on using products from the Scranton area which therefore shows his personal support for the Scranton business community.
Basket
First thing you need is the basket itself because that is the container to hold all of your goodies. Many will use a traditional basket like Michael used, but woven baskets are becoming pretty popular since not only do you have most customizable options such colors, but they usually a bit easier to utilize around the house. I like to think of the physical basket as part of the gift that could be used for storage or decorative purpose. Woven baskets are also typically more cost effective so that would be my recommendation. Additionally, you will also want to consider the necessary ribbon and plastic wrapping for the basket, although you could give the basket as is to save on the waste.
Candy
Candy is a very popular item to throw in because lets be honest, everyone has a bit of a sweet tooth. Michael is a huge fan of chocolate Turtles which is a specific brand, although they are technically pecan clusters and are pretty darn delicious. That being said, you would certainly want to tailor the candy to the unique taste of the recipient, or for the specific purpose of the gift. Like if it is for Christmas you could consider a chocolate orange or candy snowmen. Or you might want put a unique spin on it with non-American candy like the English rhubarb and custard hard candies (some of my favorite) or some classic gummy bears.
Baked Goods
Perhaps the only other snacking food better than cookies to see in a gift basket will be baked goods. And you all know how much I love to bake, so I may be a bit biased in that decision. Michael chose to go with macadamia nut cookies although I am usually more of a fan of Milanos or you could go really out there and throw in some meringue cookies. Now you can absolutely go out and buy cookies, the benefit is they are usually package sealed so they do not have a ticking clock before they go bad. But as the resident baker around here, I often would try to do the baking myself as long as I have the time to do so. Always the planner, I am already toying around with my Christmas cookies I’ll be doing this year.
Jam
Michael also made sure to grab jam and I love this idea too! I don’t personally make my own jam (aside from the quick style to be used in baking) but I do love some good jam and jelly around the house and I feel it is one of those things you often forget at the store. My brand of choice is always the French brand, Bonne Maman and while I usually do the strawberry preserves, the assorted bundle lets you get multiple small jars which is great to throw in more than one basket.
Salty Snacks
Now we have had plenty of sweets mentioned but what about salty snacks? Nuts are always a go to option, in particular cashews offer a certain level of luxury, but you can still put a unique spin on them. I personally have been addicted to dill pickle cashews lately, but you definitely need to like the dill flavor. Aside from nuts then chips are always a good fallback, this offers you a variety of flavors and I am a fan of anything that can come in individual snack sized packaging.
Non-food Gifts
Now this is where you can really go crazy and put in almost anything you want. Michael was throwing in various pieces of merchandise with the Dunder Mifflin logo on it, did you catch the Dunder Mifflin baseball caps? If this is Christmas time then why not put in cool Christmas ornaments or if this is for a baby shower you could include a baby blanket and diapers.
So what did you think of my tips on what to put into a gift basket? If I missed anything then please let me know! What fun and interesting baskets have you done yourself? Feel free to comment and let us know your thoughts!
