Handmade Holiday Gift Baskets (Part I)

This post was sponsored by Garnish. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that so generously help keep The Sweetest Occasion rockin’!

This week I am working on putting together a few holiday gift baskets for family. I know gift baskets get a bit of a bad rap for being a touch cliché as the old standby when you don’t know what to get someone, but I’m here to challenge that notion! I think lovely gift baskets with a few handmade touches, loaded with things you know your family or friends will love are pretty gosh darn awesome.

This year I figured I’d share with you the making of my gift baskets to help inspire your own holiday gifting! Among other goodies, I’m tucking a bottle of wine in each gift basket, which is where our amazing sponsor Garnish comes along. For just $1.25 each you can pick up these pretty kraft paper wine bottle boxes and then gussy them up like I did to personalize them for each of your gift basket recipients. (Ahem, this is where the handmade thing comes into play. And it’s so so easy to do!)

I started with three plain, unadorned kraft paper boxes from Garnish. Then I busted out a few rolls of washi tape, some jute twine, little shipping tags, a few stamps, some paint…basically just whatever craft supplies I could get my hands on quickly. (Although admittedly, my craft supplies are pretty massive in quantity and variety over here.)

For the first box, I stamped metallic gold stars all over the box. A bit of twine and a little shipping tag and this box looked all snazzy and cheerful with basically no effort. (But that doesn’t mean your family won’t think you spent hours being a super crafty little elf just for them!)

Next up, my good ol’ friend, washi tape. A few washi tape stripes really jazzes up kraft paper and looks so festive. These days you can score washi tape at basically every craft store, but Cute Tape (another of our awesome sponsors) has a really tremendous selection if you prefer to shop online or can’t find it near you.

Finally, two bright and bold shades of green craft paint and some dobber foam brushes and this polka dot masterpiece was complete! Ok, masterpiece might be a bit much, but I seriously love how bright and cheerful this box turned out.

And there you have, friends! A few quick and easy ideas to get you started crafting up your own handmade holiday gift baskets. Stay tuned for a few more ideas and then I’ll break down for you what I put in each basket later next week.

For loads of great holiday ideas, be sure to pop over and visit Garnish! They have the best packaging and supplies for gifts, favors and parties and their holiday lookbook is loaded with fabulous holiday inspiration.

{Photos by Cyd Converse for The Sweetest Occasion.}

This post was sponsored by Garnish. Read more about our editorial policies.