Being in the soapmaking business for the last.....8 years people would always ask me "why don't you do baskets". Then my mind would start wandering to all the attempts I made to come up with a good looking basket. I was willing to settle for good not great. But I have to tell you all attempts were horrible. Why you ask?
Well for one I HATE shrinkwrapped baskets. They look so cheesy and cheap so anytime I did one and did the shrinkwrap covering it was ugh. Plus have you ever felt that stuff? You know we are affected by all of our senses and feel is one of them and touching that shrinkwrap after it's be shrunk feels like brittle saron wrap now what kind of impression in your mind would that conjure up?
Okay so no shrinkwrap, NEXT I went on to cello on a roll from the local craft store. Have you ever tried to cut that stuff? Dear Cello On A Roll has a mind of it's own and hates the scissor. When you finally get it cut to fit, you gather it all up around the basket with products, add the ribbon and with all that work what does it look like? Folds and folds of cello and if you look really close you can see the product. Nope I hated that almost as much as the shrinkwrap.
Ohhh one day I came across some netting at Walmart for $1.00 a yard. Bought all they had went back to the store and did up some more baskets because I was convinced this was the way. Well this was getting better but I just wasn't happy, I didn't feel that zing when I'm totally happy with what I've done. These baskets reminded me of bridal or baby shower gifts and they weren't.
One thing I did forget to mention in my quest for the good looking basket was I wasn't placing my merchandise high enough in the basket. Actually all of the stuff should be up as high as the rim of the basket. Did anyone think to start a Gift Basket University for us people who need alot of help making baskets. This would save the trial and error period.
Gift basket creating is an art, and I didn't think I had it, which was depressing. With realizing one aspect of a good looking basket was to position the items way up and also using glue dots I was starting to get a bit hopeful that I might just get it yet. I wanted to create a basket that someone would be happy to give as a gift.
So for our Valentine push we decided to order some very cute stuffed animals from http://www.burtonandburton.com/. Even at my age (58) I still love stuffed animals. Now Burton and Burton is geared towards gift basket companies and they have some cello bags in sizes big enough for gift baskets. So I decided to try them. I am so happy that I did that I'm doing a happy dance. Now each bag costs about .20 each but they are so worth it. There are no folds that your merchandise is hiding behind. The quality of the cello is such that it's a crisp and clean look (remember creating for all senses) and most of all my merchandise looks fabulous darling.
Oh yeah and the stuff animals holding my product in the gift basket doesn't hurt either. I'll post some pictures as soon as they are done this week.
So if you haven't thought about doing gift baskets in your store do try it and if you have and were like me and had problems with them just keep plugging away and if I can help please feel free to email me at Linda@firstinlinesoap.com
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