Amazing Christmas Hampers To Gift This Year
Gift baskets embrace everything we love about Christmas hampers, with the added bonus of beautiful presentation. They come in all sizes and varieties, so it can be hard to know which one to pick.
This guide to the best Christmas baskets this year will tell you our top picks ranging from gourmet to budget-friendly, and instructions for how to make your own.
What Are The Best Christmas Gift Baskets?
The great thing about Christmas baskets is that no matter how obscure a person’s interests are, there will always be one they’ll love.
When trying to choose the best gift basket, it doesn’t always have to mean the most expensive.
As long as it’s relevant to what the person you’re buying for likes, or what you think they would like, then you can’t really go wrong.
Try looking in categories related to their interests, but not an exact match, to introduce them to new products they may love.
Sometimes the best gifts are things we wouldn’t buy for ourselves.
Themed Gift Basket Ideas
If you’re looking for a more general idea for how to find or make the best Christmas gift basket, then these categories should provide some inspiration.
Alcohol Gift Basket
A more adult and sophisticated take on a gift basket, filled with their favourite liquor, beer or wine. Alcohol is usually a winner for most people, but make sure the receiver does drink before buying and giving them the gift.
Premium: Salcombe Gin ‘Rosè Sainte Marie’ Gift Hamper
Penny-friendly: The Big Boy’s Gift Hamper
DIY Ideas: Buy a wicker basket or get creative with a cool box or wine bucket, and fill with any alcohol product, bar snacks like pork scratchings, nuts and crisps, some wine/beer/cocktail glasses, and maybe some aspirin to help with the hangover!
Artisan Gift Basket
Artisan gift baskets are great for people who love trying new and different products that are usually fairly-made and supporting small businesses.
Premium: Indulgence Traditional Hamper
Penny-friendly: Artisan Handmade Fudge Hamper
DIY Ideas: Fill your basket of choice with crackers, jams, chutneys, pickles, cheeses, hams, nuts, fudge, homemade sweets, biscuits, handmade soaps. Check out your local farmers market and see if you can find some locally-sourced and made artisan goodies.
Foodie Gift Baskets
We all love food. So food filled gift baskets are a sure-fire way to make someone happy at Christmas. These can be as simple or extravagant as you wish and allow for loads of creativity.
Premium: Connoisseur’s Wine And Cheese Basket
Penny-friendly: Afternoon Tea Time Gift Hamper
DIY Ideas: If you know where they usually do their food shopping, head to a different supermarket to find new products. Consider setting a theme or sticking to one type of cuisine.
Fill the basket with all things foodie, like spice pastes, cheeses, wine, meat cuts, chocolates, desserts, crisps, cooking sauces, hot sauces, cakes, biscuits, spreads etc. The list is literally endless.
Be mindful of perishable gifts and consider how much the receiver and their household will be able to finish before products go bad.
Vegan Gift Baskets
Whether they’ve been vegan for years or are considering trying it out, a vegan gift hamper is a great way for them to find new products they might not have tried before.
Premium: (Check if they are okay with honey in their vegan diet) Heritage Bee Farm Gift Basket – Ultimate Size
Penny-friendly: The Perfect Vegan Gift Hamper or Vegan Care Package (we couldn’t decide our favourite.)
DIY Ideas: Fill with local vegan products, check out The Vegan Kind Supermarket, head to your supermarkets ‘free-from’ section and look on Vegan Instagram accounts like Accidentally Vegan UK for inspiration. Vegan cookies, cheeses, chocolates and meat substitutes are a great choice.
Health and Fitness Gift Baskets
Especially after the Christmas period, a lot of people are into their fitness and getting healthy. Kick-start their journey with some healthy snacks packed with protein and some great workout gear.
Premium: Ladies Workout Basket
Penny-friendly: High Protein Fitness Gift Box
DIY ideas: Fill a box or basket with resistance bands, dumbbells, kettlebells, protein snacks, vitamins, running shoes, sports socks, sweatbands, and an affordable fitness watch like the Xiaomi MiBand 4.
Different Ideas for Christmas Gift Baskets
Hobby Gift Basket
A fun idea for your crafty friends and family. Fill a sewing box, or bag with lots of compartments with all things arty!
Fill with: Think crafting, gardening, cooking, music, baking, knitting etc. Include some paints and colouring pencils, an adult colouring book and anything that’ll bring out their inner creative.
Makeup Gift Basket
Fill with: Eyeshadow palettes, mascara, lip gloss, lipstick and lipliner, setting spray, makeup brushes, makeup remover, primer, bronzer, blusher, makeup storage.
Nail Art Gift Basket
Fill with: Nail polish, nail art brushes and stickers, sponges, nail polish remover, hand cream, nail oils.
Hair Care Gift Basket
Fill with: Hair masks, hair brush, hair ties, headbands, heat-protectant spray, hair perfume, hair styling mousse, curl creams, coconut oil.
Sports Gift Basket
Fill with: Tennis balls, rackets, sports socks, sweatbands, stopwatch, blister plasters, sports shorts and t-shirts, water bottle, progress tracking notebook.
Fishing Gift Basket
Fill with: Fishing bait, beers, snacks, hand-sanitizer, fishing books, disposable camera, headtorch, fishing rod accessories.
Book Lovers Basket
Fill with: New and second hand books, headtorch, bookmark, reading light, ear plugs, neck pillow.
Pets Basket
Fill with: Toys, treats, balls and blankets.
For extra points, use a pet bed as the basket and fill it with goodies.
P.S. If you make this as a Christmas gift basket as a present for your pet, we won’t judge you.
Local Goods & Hand-Crafted
Fill with: Locally produced goods from farm-shops and farmers markets. This could be food, cosmetics, clothes and toys.
For more hand-crafted ideas, take a look at our post on homemade gift ideas if you’re feeling creative.
Where Can I Buy the Best-Rated Christmas Gift Baskets?
OFC Top Pick for Men
Personalised Deluxe Garden Tool Storage Basket
“This charming, high quality wicker basket features a large, durable handle, a trowel, fork, twine, wooden markers and a measuring dibber – ideal to give to those with green fingers and equally useful for carrying produce or flowers as a durable, high quality trug.”
OFC Top Pick for Women
“This box is sure going to lift your spirits! It’s all yellow, bright and cute and contains all you need to feel a bit happier 😊”
Taste of Thorntons Chocolate Hamper
“We want to take you on a journey of our Thorntons chocolate, this hamper is the perfect gift for chocolate lovers – pass on the love!”
OFC Top Pick for Kids
Child Toy and Play Gift Basket
“This basket will allow a child to indulge in their spatial, linguistic, and kinesthetic ways of learning while having fun.”
OFC Top Pick for Families
“Our basket hamper is filled full of our award winning biscuits, cake, fudge, flapjacks, caramel sauce and more, all baked in our family bakery.”
| Top Tip: Google shopping is great for comparing multiple stores at once. Open up Google Shopping, type in what you’re looking for and sort the results by ‘Review Score’ to find the best-rated gift baskets for your search! You can also add price filters to match your budget. |
Homemade Gift Baskets
If you’re making one or a batch of gift baskets this year this short guide will help you create beautiful and memorable presents everyone will love.
How Do You Make a Gift Basket?
In summary, gift baskets are simple to make and are a beautiful alternative gift at Christmas that are fun to make and receive.
All you need is a basket or alternative (see below), items to fill your gift basket, and any decorative additions like ribbon, bows or tissue paper.
Assembling a gift basket is a really enjoyable activity, especially in front of a Christmas movie.
All you need to do is place your items in the basket with the tallest items at the back, and adjust until they look perfect. You can add height with tissue paper or newspaper balled up at the base.
Where to Buy Baskets and Hampers
We love this country style shopping basket on Amazon as it adds a premium touch and can be used for picnics or kitchen storage.
If you’re making multiple gift baskets this set of five minimalistic baskets on Amazon are affordable and can be customised to look gorgeous. Add ribbon, gift tags and bows for a professional finish.
Alternatives to Baskets
To add a creative touch to your gift basket and accentuate your theme, how about using one of these:
- Bucket
- Plant pot
- Vase
- Pan/Dish
- Washing-up bowl
- Cardboard box
- Gift bag
- Cool box
- Beach bag
- Suitcase
What Do You Put at the Bottom of a Gift Basket?
To improve the presentation of your gifts and create a tiered appearance you might need something at the base to boost your smaller items.
This is simple to do and you can use any sort of paper, like newspaper or tissue paper, balled up at the bottom of your gift basket to provide some height.
For an extra surprise, scatter some sweets or chocolates at the bottom for an affordable extra touch.
Summary of The Best Christmas Gift Baskets This Year
Christmas gift baskets are a fun, creative and stunning present idea that can be customised to suit the person who will receive it.
It makes Christmas shopping more exciting and they can be as big or small, cheap or expensive as you like!
For a bigger gift, how about a Christmas hamper! Read our article ‘The Best Christmas Hampers On Amazon’.
Related Gift Idea Articles:
- The Best Christmas Hampers On Amazon
- 15 Easy & Unique Homemade Christmas Gift Ideas
- The Best Christmas Gifts For Couples Who Have Everything
- 17 Best Food Gifts for Christmas: Amazing Ideas
- 22 Best Quirky Baking Gifts For The Star Baker In Your Life
