With the holiday season right around the corner, we all need some fresh ideas for gifts and presents. This is why a children’s gift basket is such a great concept. It is easy to create and you also have some fun making it.

From Part I we have everything that we need: all the goodies that go inside the basket and the basket. For the final touch, I would also recommend having some colorful wrapping paper around. This is for the last step when we actually wrap the basket and it can also be very useful for creating a colorful layer inside the basket. Let’s start decorating and creating the basket now.

Step 3 - Create the Basket

This is the fun part! Since I want to create a gift basket for my niece for Christmas, I will use her gift as an example. For this I got her a few chocolate candies, a scarf and hat set, and for the centerpiece I will use a plush cat. I know this is her favorite animal in the whole world. To start off, get some red wrapping paper and lay it on the bottom of the basket. Then, sprinkle the candy on the bottom. Create a hole in the bed of candy to make some room for the plush cat. Place the toy in the center and try to position it in a way that it is half way out the basket. If you chose a plush cat that is in a laying position, it might be hard to achieve. In this situation, I would take the candy out and try to raise the inside of the basket by folding some more wrapping paper and slipping it under the lining that you created before. Then, proceed with placing the candy and the stuffed cat, as mentioned before.

My next step would be to dress up the stuffed cat with the hat and the scarf. The advantage here is that kids’ apparel is so small that it can most likely fit a plush animal. Although I am using winter accessories, since I have in mind a Christmas present, you can use any accessory. You can use a baseball hat, maybe some sunglasses, a nice and colorful necklace. You can be as creative as you want here. Going back to my basket, I would continue by wrapping its margins with a little garland, just to give it some holiday spirit. Place the basket on a big piece of wrapping paper. Next, bring the corners of the paper up and tie them over the basket with a big red bow.

There you have it! You have created a great present with some of the things kids love the most: candy and toys. You also included some practical stuff, considering the scarf and hat set, and you dressed it all up and made it wear the holiday cheer.

This is truly a great gift, and you can make it even better by planning a little. You can save money by getting a family sized bag of candy which can use to decorate two or three baskets. There are many offers for accessories that let you buy one and get the other 50% off. Many websites have stuffed animals sets, or buy one get one free deals, which can help you create great centerpieces for many gift baskets. It cannot get better than this!