Holiday Hostess Gift Basket

One of the perks of the holidays is all of the fun Christmas parties people tend to throw! Don’t forget to do a little something for your hostess to show your appreciation for all of her hard work. The easiest way to do this is to put together a little Holiday Hostess Gift Basket.

There are many themes you can go with for a gift basket depending on what you know your hostess likes. I am keeping it simple with this gift basket by gathering fun and festive items that remind me of the best parts of Christmas: beautiful ornaments, sweet treats, festive decorations, the smell of Christmas, and hot chocolate.

Start with a container to hold all of your items. I went with an inexpensive plastic bin that can always be reused for storage later. Garland doubles as decor and a cushion for your gift items. Christmas towels will make a perfect basket liner. Decorative gift boxes can be reused for other gifts and hold/protect smaller items for the basket. Then pick out items that remind you of the holidays: candles, a travel mug for hot chocolate, sentimental ornaments, and fun decor.

Fill the decorative boxes with goodies for your hostess. I lined the smaller box with tissue paper then filled it with a sweet treat. For the larger box, I trimmed off some of the garland to line the box and cushion some special ornaments.

Several of the items for the gift basket can be dressed up and customized. The blinged out Mr. Coffee travel mug is cute on it’s own, but we can easily make it cuter still. We can also easily decorate this glass vase and even a small Christmas candle. The plastic bin is a steal at $1.99 and can also be dolled up for the gift basket.

Let’s start with the vase. It’s adorable with all of those polka dots, but it could be so much more fun and festive with a little color! Since we’re doing a festive Christmas gift basket we’re going to use holiday colors. Grab some glitter glue in silver, red, and green and color in the different circles with the glue. Once it dries it is super festive and fun! Especially filled with these button and berry picks.

Personalizing the Mr. Coffee travel mug is as easy as grabbing a Sharpie marker. I used silver to monogram the mug for my hostess.

Peel the label off of the front of the candle and decoupage on some gold tissue paper. Wrap with gold glitter tape (or ribbon) and top with a bow.

Use a Sharpie marker or paint pen to decorate the plastic bin.

Trim the poinsettia from the stem leaving ~3 inches. Remove the leaves from the stem and attached directly behind the poinsettia leaves by either hot gluing the leaves on or wrapping the wire around the base. Bend the stem so that it is flush with the back of the poinsettia petals and hot glue to the front of the plastic bin.

Use one of the Christmas towels to line the bin then fill with the remainder of the garland. It will act as a cushion as well as raise up the items in the gift basket. And, of course, it can still be use as decor for your hostess later on.

Fill the hostess basket with the larger items in the back and fill in the front with the smaller items.

So whether you are filling a gift basket with Christmas memorabilia, pampering gifts, or sweet treats don’t forget your holiday hostess this season. And, p.s., you can find the items you need to make and fill these baskets at Old Time Pottery!