Baskets Galore Blog

Get Well Gifts

2010-08-18T17:11:00.003+01:00

Welcome to the new Get Well section of our new look website here at Basketsgalore.

Our website has undergone a huge redesign process, and we hope the finished result is to your liking! We’ve spent a lot of time trying to make it as easy to use as possible, by building a new navigation drop down menu. Now in each section you can shop by product, shop by price or shop by category. The feedback so far from our regular customers is that it’s super duper and super fast – which of course makes us super pleased.

In our Get Well Gift section you will find a wide range of Get Well Soon Gifts and Get Well Gift Baskets, suitable for all ages, and to cover every eventuality. Think of a get well gift basket and the first thing that springs to mind is the most obvious – a fruit basket. So of course we have on offer a range of http://basketsgalore.co.uk/get-well-gift-baskets/traditional-fruit-gift-baskets.html.

But here at Basketsgalore we like to jazz gifts up a bit and make them a little more exciting. And so we’ve taken the concept of the traditional fruit basket and included all manner of tasty treats - like handmade cheeses, fresh fruit juices, organic green teas, & freshly baked buns - to create healthy, wholesome gift packages to restore and revitalise in times of convalescence. So if you’re looking for a nutritious fruit hamper, then a gift from our Fruit & Food section may be exactly what you are looking for.

If you’re searching for a get well gift to entertain then our Get Well Hospital Gifts or our Alternative Gift Baskets section is the one for you. In these gift basket you’ll find an assortment of many interesting little gifts to nourish, pamper and entertain including fresh fruit, light tasty snack sized foods, an assortment of puzzles, games & toys, books and magazines, pamper gifts and balloons. Get well soon gift baskets are an ideal way to cheer up and entertain someone in hospital and let them know you are thinking about them.

We also have a wide range of get well gift baskets for Sick Children. It can be difficult to know what type of gift to buy for little children who aren’t well. The main purpose is bring a smile to their face and provide some distraction. This is where we come in. We have carefully selected a mix of educational and fun toys and games for kids, teddy bears, books and balloons suitable for next day delivery to all major children's hospitals across London and throughout the UK.

Our delivery rates start at only £3.99, for deliver nationwide throughout the UK & Ireland. So if the patient is at home recuperating from illness, or in hospital recovering after an operation - a delivery of a colourful gift basket complete with get well balloon is sure to delight. We all get sick at times, but with a Get Well Gift Basket, the spirit can be raised for a time at least, and lets someone know you’re thinking of them.

UK Gift Baskets

2010-08-18T17:02:00.003+01:00

Gifts for Every Occasion

Whatever the occasion, Basketsgalore has been dispatching gift baskets for our customers every day of the year for the past 9 years.
When you need a UK gift to express your thanks, best wishes, sympathy or congratulations, then a gift basket is the perfect way to convey your thoughts to friends and family in the UK.

Basketsgalore has a gift basket for every day of the year whether it be a personal red letter day or a state/national day. For years we have been creating gift baskets that we would love to receive ourselves.

We have 3 sections in our new improved web-site. Our holiday gift baskets include our easter range of baskets, thanksgiving gifts available in the UK, Valentines, Christmas open gift baskets and St Patricks Day gift baskets.

In the Great UK Gift Baskets by occasions section, you can shop for thank you gifts, good luck gifts, mothers and fathers day gifts and sympathy gifts.

Meanwhile our congratulations hampers & range of gift baskets can be tailored for a wedding, anniversary, engagement, for a new home gift or as a retirement present.

Alternatively you can shop for your gift basket by price or by classification all from one easy to navigate drop down menu.

Regards,

BG UK

Basketsgalore Christmas Gift Baskets

2010-08-18T16:39:00.003+01:00

Welcome to the new Christmas Gift section of Basketsgalore.
Our new look web-site offers a selection of the 2009 versions of Christmas gift baskets, with the 2010 upgrades arriving in September.

And when we say upgrades, we mean upgrades. Top selling gift baskets from last year will be returning and not only will we be keeping our already low prices down to the same as last year, but we are even adding greater value.

We always respond to what our customers tell us, so this year we are adding a variety of new price points and will be here to answer your questions online 24 hours a day in December.

We are able to offer the service and reliability which you associate with an established Christmas Hamper business, yet still retain that quintessential quirkiness and unusuality often only associated with small family run businesses.

Basketsgalore are the UK's Gift Basket specialists and we hope that this Christmas you join the tens of thousands of people who trust our company with their Christmas Hamper orders for delivery in the UK and Europe.

UK Hamper Gifts by Basketsgalore

2010-08-18T16:27:00.005+01:00

Food Hampers

Welcome to the new style format of Basketsgalore’s Food Hamper section. We do food hampers with gift basket style and panache.

What’s special about our hampers is the number of great taste award medal winning food products. Our attention to presentation and value for money is recognised through the high levels of customer satisfaction and continuing loyalty.

We’re not the UK’s largest food hamper company. However, if you want a gift of food in a hamper or a basket, then you may wish to take a look at the value and ideas on offer at Basketsgalore, the UK’s oldest and leading food gift basket company.

So what’s new between this web-site and last years re-modelling. We’ve redesigned the layout so that baskets can be more easily compared. We have UK food hampers, alongside our selection of gift baskets. The emphasis on food product selection in this category is gourmet food products, which are ideal as an online gift idea in the UK.

Basketsgalore isn’t just a UK hamper company, we’re a brand name synonymous with great value and careful attention to detail when you want to send a gift in the UK, which is certain to create that special wow factor.

New Look, New Gifts

2010-08-13T15:03:00.010+01:00

Happy (Sunny) Friday!

We hope you have been enjoying shopping on the new look BasketsGalore site over the last week or so.

As well as the new look there are lots of handy new features, such as the larger "mega menu"; making it easy to find exactly the right gift basket. You can also shop by price, by category or by browsing the bestsellers, for each of the main sections (Baby, Christmas, Birthdays etc)

With the new look came new ideas for gift baskets & so many categories have had new gifts added or updated. Including new pamper gifts for her, new luxury baby gifts, fabulous fruit gifts and get well gift baskets

Hen Night Gifts

2010-07-30T17:24:00.001+01:00

A few of us in the office were away on my hen weekend recently & it inspired us to create a new range of hen night gifts.

We had noticed people ordering pamper hampers or wine & chocolate gift baskets for hen night presents before, but until now we haven't had gifts designed especially for hen do's.

Hen Night gifts are popular to send if you are unable to make the hen night, but still want to be a part of it & show you are thinking of them.

They are also good to have as an arrival treat in your hotel room, apartment or B&B. Some companies that book hen activities or weekends, like to offer a Hen Gift Basket as an arrival gift.

Our Hen Party Gift Baskets typically include some bubbly or wine cooler drinks, sweets, crisps, snacks, nuts & lots of chocolates to share! We have also included a few cheeky accessories for the blushing bride, such as 'Bride To Be' sashes & pink fluffy L Plates! So basically everything the hens need to get the party started!

We also have a range of Congratulation Gift Baskets that would work well as hen party presents. Of course, after the hen weekend comes the Wedding (hopefully!) Our Wedding Gifts are themed with champagne, delicious chocolates & cute wedding items - such as wedding certificate holders & wedding photo albums. Again brilliant gifts to send if you cannot make the wedding, or if you are an evening guest & would still like to offer the couple a wedding present which will make a real presentational impact!

If you have an idea for a hen party or wedding gift basket please just let us know.

The BG Team

Fruit-Tastic New Baskets

2010-07-22T12:10:00.011+01:00

At BasketsGalore we like to create fruit gifts with a difference. Fruit gift baskets are popular presents, as they can be sent on a variety of occasions & to almost everybody. We also add a few extras to our fruit gifts, to make them that little bit more special than a standalone fruit basket.

The most popular reason for sending a fruit basket is as a Get Well Soon gift, so we have created a special range of get-well fruit baskets and fruit hospital gifts

By adding things like magazines, books, puzzles & games to our get well fruit baskets, we think the patient or person who is unwell at home will appreciate having their mind taken off feeling poorly, as well as having juicy fruit to snack on.

Our get well fruit gifts are for men & women as there is a drop down menu to select a magazine or book for a lady or gentleman. Or simply pick a get will gift with "for him" or "for her" in the title & you know it will be tailored for the recipient.

We also recently introduced a fruit get well gift for children, called "Funny Fruit". This fruit basket for kids contains fun size, easy peel fruits as well as sweeties, a board game, teddy & balloon.

Fruit baskets are also popular as thank you gifts & sympathy gifts. We create baskets with a mixture of fresh fruit & then sweet or savoury gourmet food items to accompany them.

Recent additions include our "Fruit & Cheese" Gift Basket:

And on the sweet side, our "Fruit & Chocolate" Gift Basket:

These fruit gift baskets are not themed as get well gifts, so can be sent for any reason & on any occasion. We select a suitable gift card depending on what you have written in your message & if the gift is for a man, woman or child.

Scattered throughout the site are other gift baskets which contain smaller amounts of fresh fruit or are simply dressed in fruit. These gift baskets are popular as fruit is not the main focus of the basket, but makes a nice addition & compliments the main food items. Such as fresh grapes with a Cheese & Wine gift basket.

If you would like to see a certain fruit combination basket then please do let us know at sales@basketsgalore.co.uk

The BG Team

The Best UK Hamper

2010-07-19T15:45:00.002+01:00

Best UK Hamper

Questions & Answers with Basketsgalore.

From time to time we see these frequent questions and answer sections on websites relating to some obscure facts, so this is are our responses to anybody asking the question online in all those internet forums regarding “Who Makes the Best Gift Hampers in the UK?”

Q. Where can I find the best hampers in the UK?
A. Basketsgalore
Q. Why do you say Basketsgalore?
A. Because I see what goes in them
Q. So you work for the company?
A Yes
Q. Doesn’t that make you biased?
A. Very likely
Q. So can you recommend anybody else?
A. No
Q. Why not?
A. Because I see on their websites what they are offering and they aren’t as good as Basketsgalore.
Q. But you are biased?
A. Maybe yes, but being so does not make it any less true.

So there you have it. Completely biased, but completely true answer to the question of where you can find the best hampers in the UK and always get an honest answer to your questions.

Basketsgalore UK

Birthday Gifts Created By You

2010-07-15T16:11:00.007+01:00

I noticed last week in particular that many of the gift baskets created on our build your own basket website were for birthday presents. Our pre-designed birthday baskets are also popular sellers, but many people like to create their own special basket for their loved one by hand-picking all the items to go in it.

Birthday boys tend to be sent baskets of beer or wine, cheese and snacks such as nuts, puffs & pretzels

Ummera's Duck Breast was a big hit last week in the mens birthday baskets. This is a smoked duck product using succulent duck breasts from Silver Hill Ducklings.

Our Birthday girls tend to receive chocolates & fudge or something from our buns & cake range

The most popular addition to our birthday baskets is the freshly baked birthday cake, by Ashers Baking Co. This is a freshly baked, 400g iced cake with the message 'Happy Birthday' on it.

Another popular addition to a birthday gift for him or her, is a happy birthday message balloon:

The birthday basket of the week has to go to a lady in Sheffield, who created a jam-packed birthday gift for her friend in Dublin.

This birthday present was overflowing, so was packed with 2 layers in the basket. The heavier items such as the red & white wine and fresh fruit juice were placed in the bottom of the basket. The air-dried ham was packed into a cooling sleeve. The savoury items of cheese, oatcakes, nuts & olives were then added, along with the jam, honey, fairy cakes & chocolate bars. Finally the finishing touch of bath sachets, a facemask & birthday balloon were added to the hamper. The picture shows the birthday gift just before it is cellophane wrapped & decorated in colourful ribbons. We hope the lucky recipient enjoyed her birthday treats!

Customer Delivery Announcement

2010-07-09T15:23:00.003+01:00

Customer Announcement

It is only Saturday 10th July. Why is my next delivery date Wednesday 14th July?

BasketsGalore is expanding its office space and refurbishing the packaging & dispatch area, so unfortunately will be unable to process orders on Monday 12th July. We will start dispatching orders to the UK & Ireland again on Tuesday 13th July.

So if I order any time on Saturday, Sunday or Monday it will make no difference?

Yes, we have taken the decision to carry out all work over this weekend, as it also coincides with the 12th July Public holiday.

I understand and am happy for my Gift Basket to be dispatched by BasketsGalore on Tuesday 13th or Wednesday 14th July.

That's great & to thank you for being so understanding we'd like to offer you the following:

1) An Upgrade to the Express Delivery service at no extra cost
2) 2 x Complimentary bars of Chocolate Garden Handmade Luxury Chocolate to be included in your gift basket

This applies to ALL GIFT BASKETS ordered over this period.

Additional Information

BasketsGalore have moved premises quite a few times in the past few years as we have continued to grow. On this occasion we are improving the warehouse logistics and increasing our office space for efficiency purposes. We greatly apologise to our customers for the inconvenience, but unfortunately it is a necessity.

As we strive to produce greater efficiencies within our operations, it has become apparent that additional space & enhanced operations are required to keep individual unit costs down. New procedures have been implemented, which will enable us to process more orders in a faster period of time.

The result will be lower prices and a better online shopping experience. We would like to thank you all for your understanding and co-operation as we continue to grow.

Yours faithfully,

BasketsGalore

New Get Well & Pamper Gift Baskets

2010-07-06T10:56:00.013+01:00

Some of our team have been busy little bees updating our get well gift baskets & pamper hampers. They are constantly reviewing the current pamper products we stock & looking for new, exciting ones to add. Then they select a winning combination & the perfect basket to present them in. Finally they need to make sure all the items can fit into the hamper, before carefully arranging them for photographing.

Our new pampering gifts range from £32 upwards and this time we have added a few luxury pamper gifts in the £50-90 price bracket, for anyone in need of some serious pampering!

Our 'Pamper Her' basket has had several reincarnations & is always one of our best selling pamper gifts.

The new pamper & get well range include everything needed to aid a speedy recovery or to be a perfect pick-me-up. Magazines, light-hearted reading novels & comedy DVD's are new additions to keep the patient entertained. Luxurious, high quality body wash, bath milk, body butter, body lotion, bubble bath & cleansing bars are amongst some of the pamper treats you may find in a BasketsGalore get well gift or pamper package. Sourced from quality suppliers such as Scottish Fine Soaps, Arran Aromatics & Vital Touch.

You can also find some fun items such as lip balms, facemasks, shower caps, reflexology foot socks, bath fizzers, teddy bears and a range of scented candles.

Not to mention the fantastic range of tasty sundried fruit, fruit teas, chocolates, cake & biscuits that work wonderfully in a BasketsGalore get well hamper.

We didn't want the boys missing out on the chance of some pampering so have also created some male pamper gifts

Fruit gift baskets are also popular as get well gifts for both men and women. Please let us know if you have a suggestion for items you would like to see included in a pamper gift basket or get well gift.

Get Well Gift Baskets By You

2010-06-30T15:53:00.006+01:00

I was looking through the gift baskets dispatched last week & noticed an overwhelming 'get well' gift basket theme from those who had choosen to create their own gift basket.

Most people creating their get well gift opted to include a little bit of fresh fruit. We have grouped our fruit into various fruit collections & the favourite one last week was grapes (as everyone likes receiving easy to eat grapes when they are feeling poorly!) Other popular fruit collections were the Orchard Pack (apples & pears) and the French Garden collection (plums & peaches). Most people also choose to include a get well soon balloon to cheer the patient up!

Being in hospital can be boring so our reading novels for him & reading novels for her are also popular additions to get well gift baskets. We have a wide range of popular light hearted or comedy novels available. If you have a special request please include this in the comments box & if we stock it we will include your choice. Or you can opt to include a current lifestyle magazine for them to browse through. We offer current issues of health & beauty, fashion or home & garden magazines.

A little bit of food to keep their strength up is also a popular choice, with many customers adding some nice cheese or yummy chocolates to the gift basket for their friend, family member or colleague.

My favourite get well gift basket creation of the week was the gift Cherie created for a friend in hospital. He received a deep linen lined gift basket containing some grapes, apples & pears, some spicy nuts & seeds and a bottle of freshly pressed apple & pear juice. These were combined with her choice of a novel, puzzle book, get well balloon & mini meccano robot from our 'fun items for him' section. This basket was a lovely mix of healthy food & fun items to keep the patient entertained during his stay in hospital. We hope he enjoyed his get well gift for him, which was beautiflly cellophane wrapped, decorated in ribbons & accompanied by Cherie's personal gift card message.

I look forward to seeing more of your fruit basket & get well gift hamper creations soon. We will also be trying to photograph some of your creations so you can see just how good they look!

Celebration Gift Baskets

2010-06-29T15:36:00.014+01:00

Summer really is the season of celebrations! Just last week 2 of my friends celebrated their wedding anniversaries, 1 got engaged & a few people I know completed their degree & so are graduating. Within my circle of friends & family we also had 6 June birthdays! Also this weekend my fiance and I are celebrating our hen and stag weekends & are getting married in August! Phew...what a lot of celebrations & shopping for presents!

Luckily I work at BasketsGalore & so am surrounded my amazing ideas for celebration or congratulations gifts! Our gift baskets make excellent wedding & engagements presents as they are perfect for a couple to share & make a high presentational impact when they are delivered or you hand them over. Many people give vouchers or household items as engagement or wedding presents, which are always welcome, but a congratulations gift basket is for the recipients to share & enjoy themselves. It is also more personal, as thought went into choosing the goodies for them to celebrate with.

Anniversaries are another occasion when an anniversary gift basket is a perfect solution, especially if you cannot be there in person to celebrate with the happy couple. Particularly for those really special anniversaries, such as First, Silver, Gold, Pearl, Ruby and Diamond Anniversaries. We include a luxurious gift card for the relevant anniversary if you mention this in your gift card message. Flowers are nice, but then a gift basket can be enjoyed by hubbie as well!

Finally our congratulations on your success gift baskets make perfect graduation presents, congrats on the new job gifts, well done on passing your exams or for completing a job/task successfully presents. If you want to send something really memorable that will be truly enjoyed & appreciated, then look no further than BasketsGalore Congratulations gifts range.

If you're lucky they might like it so much, you'll get a BasketsGalore thank you gift in return!!

Gift Baskets By You

2010-06-21T16:30:00.000+01:00

A few more Make Your Own Gift Baskets

We’ve had some unusual requests for create your own gift baskets such as lemons, remedial creams, dental cream and a basket full of isotonic drinks. However, based on what we have on offer, our customers continue to create some lovely gift baskets.
We’ve selected a few from the end of last week, to give new customers an idea of what it is possible to create at Basketsgalore.co.uk

Jane from Buckinghamshire UK sent a wicker get well tray consisting of grapes, apples, pears, kiwis and passion-fruits. Included was a puzzle-book, chocolate covered mango. Nuts and seeds and a bottle of pressed apple juice.
This was a very thoughtful gift basket in our opinion with the emphasis on the healthy items, but just a little bit of chocolate in the form of the chocolate enrobed mango.

Brad sent his Mum in Birmingham UK, a gourmet gift tray consisting of 3 cheeses, Duck pate, sea-salt crackers, garlic olives for her Birthday. This was an unusual design since the items were all quite small, so our solution was to create a sea straw and lay the products out flat. Then more straw was added to create a level surface with only the tops of the products being visible.

Michelle sent a hospital gift basket to her friend in East Sussex, UK, which consisted of Teas, a mens magazine, a puzzle, a novel, fresh fruit and dried fruit mixes along with a balloon. Another really well thought out gift basket creation in a nice choice of basket, which was perfect for the gift.

Next gift creation was a big one by Annabel for her mother in London. A linen lined basket with Truffles, biscuits, cake, coffee, chocolate sauce, grapes, cheeses, a bottle of ale, ham, salmon, olives and a woman’s magazine. This went in one of our bigger baskets, was expertly arranged, shrink-wrapped, bagged, ribboned and bowed.

We hope you continue to create some unusual, thoughtful and innovative gift baskets over the summer of 2010.

Online Hampers and Gifts UK

2010-06-20T23:59:00.001+01:00

Online Forums saying make your own hamper or gift basket!

You find the question frequently online. Where can I find a good gift hamper company to use in Europe. And you can be certain that you will get several helpful responses suggesting that you make it yourself.
But do these people really know what they are talking about!
So let’s just say I wanted to create a food hamper.

First thing I’d do is visit TK Maxx or Ikea where I know they usually have a range of discounted basketware.
Last time I was in, Ikea had reasonable seagrass baskets available for about £8 and TK Maxx had a sort of lidded container, which would have sufficed for £10-£11.

After that you need to buy the straw, which can be found at craft stores. You will need to buy a small bag costing about £5. Whilst there buy some nice ribbon and bows, which will be another £3-£4.

Buy say £30 worth of food items, which is more difficult than you think on the basis that a lot of products are made especially for retailers. The smaller producers can usually only be found in delicatessens, which tend to be more expensive.

Pack the food items and wrap the basket. Some people are artistically flaired and will find this easier than others, but regardless it doesn’t matter what you do, it will always take longer the first time.

OK, so it is now finished, it will hopefully look OK, and you have to find a box to fit it in and tape it up. Write your gift card message and then you will need to take it to the post office. Post office recorded delivery will be more than you anticipate because they will calculate the cost volumetrically.

By the time you have dispatched your hamper and paid for the postage, your outlay will almost certainly have exceeded the cost of buying from Basketsgalore. And this is not including the cost of your time. Even on minimum wage, you really ought to factor in a minimum of 2-3 hours to achieve your objective. At £6 per hour you have to add £18 to total cost.

So you can buy a better product and have it delivered for less money without the hassle from Basketsgalore or do it yourself and pay more.

So our hypothesis is that it is invariably always more cost effective to buy from a professional company than to attempt to do it yourself. A bit like DIY work, unless you know what you are doing, it will always end up more expensive than you initially think.

The case for Basketsgalore rests. We look forward to hearing from some DIYers.

Basketsgalore

Story of the Traditional Christmas Hamper

2010-06-17T09:41:00.008+01:00

The Story of the Traditional Christmas Hamper

A man walks into the office and exclaims how unusual it is to see a “hamper company” busy when it isn’t Christmas time.

“Yes, that’s because we’re not really a hamper company,” is our reply.

“Don’t be silly,” he says, “you make hampers and so you must be a hamper company. If you’re not a hamper company, then what are you?”

“We’re a British Style Gift Basket Company.”

He laughs and says that there is no difference. A hamper here is referred to as a gift basket in America. It’s still the same thing.

"Are we really?", we say: “A hamper in the UK was traditionally a charitable gift given at Christmas time and tended to be a variety of groceries, which were packed in a box and filled with foods, of quite distinctly average taste. A Gift Basket accentuates Gourmet food products and places significant emphasis on the presentation, packaging and service.”

“I did hampers a couple of years ago he tells me. We were asked by one of the local banks to make up a hamper for display at each of their branches.”

I tell him that he must have made a lot of money doing them and he said yes that he did!

I suggest a figure and he looks surprised at how close I am to his profit. “How did you know?”

“Because they were rubbish!”

“How do you know that? “

“I saw them. If they are the ones that I remember seeing at the branch of the bank in question. I remember thinking how naff they looked.”

He looks a little disappointed, which surprises me!
“Of course they were poor, you made a ton of money and had no accountability for what you put in them. You simply put in as many things of indeterminate quality as you could safe in the knowledge that nobody could argue that it wasn’t a hamper. For you a Christmas Hamper was a collection of various food items thrown into a wicker container. How could you possibly have produced anything worthwhile, when you didn't know what you were doing? ”

When I was there, the hamper looked tired, disorganised and had nothing in it, that I’d have been excited about opening. So I wonder to myself what was the point?

He asks what we’d have done differently.

We’d have given them a Gift Basket. It would have been themed, contained the best products in the land, been properly packaged and carefully designed. Whoever received the prize would have used the products and would have understood that after consuming just 1 or 2 items that they had something genuinely worth winning.
Most importantly we’d have put our name to it. After all if you are going to offer better value and quality, then you want your brand to be associated with it.

Our customers are individuals. They want to send a gift to friends and family in the UK and in Europe. They want their gift to be of impeccable taste and great value for money. They want their gift basket to be commented upon and enjoyed. When customers have the hamper delivered to themselves, it never ceases to surprise us how often the basket is referred to as surprisingly good.

Clearly the reputation of the hamper industry in the UK has suffered from years of short term exploitation by people who spotted an opportunity to make a quick buck on a local basis. The UK Online Gift companies set up in the early part of this decade have helped to change that.

The competition online is immense, but each of us is striving to create a better service and a better quality of hamper for all to enjoy. Basketsgalore does indeed create food hampers, but only when they are made with Gift Basket Style & Panache. We simply won’t put our name to anything less!

UK Gift BasketsGalore

Your Father's Day Gift Creations

2010-06-16T20:19:00.001+01:00

Fathers Day Gift UK - Your Creations

Alongside our Father’s Day Gift Basket and Hamper range, this is the 1st year that you can mix and match your very own Father’s Day gourmet gift in our create your own gift basket section. Here are a few of the gifts you created in 2010.

Victoria sent her Dad in London a combination of 6 different farmyard cheeses and handmade chocolates with some oatcakes, organic milk chocolate with orange pieces and some savoury mix.

Rebecca from London combined a moist fruit cake with shortbread, jam, nuts and savoury mix along with a handmade fruit and nut bar and a rich fruity chutney. This was an unusual one because although there was a chutney, there was no cheese. It’s nice to see novel combinations such as this as it contradicts the traditional wisdom of the more conventional hamper contents. It is simply a case that the reputation of the OffBeat Bottling company prevails or did Dad receive that product in a previous gift basket from Basketsgalore and comment upon it.

Barry sent his Dad a deep basket with apple juice, Spanish drinking Chocolate, cake, a duo of shortbreads with Extremely Orangey Marmalade, chocolate and the Double Chocolate Fudge Collection. We were able to create a double decker effect with this gift, putting the bulkier juice and drinking chocolate at the bottom with the biscuits acting as the backdrop.

Its also Grand-Dad’s day so a small gift basket was sent by Wendy in the US including cheese, chocolate, nuts and a fruit and nut chocolate gift box to her Grand-Dad in England.

We’re still assembling your creations in the morning for dispatch tomorrow with expected arrival in the UK on Friday in time for Fathers Day

UK Graduation Gifts

2010-06-15T15:37:00.002+01:00

Graduation Gifts delivered in the UK

The average age of people working in Basketsgalore is 25/26 years of age. Even the inclusion of Mother only pushes the average up to 29, so we are all aware that June and July is Graduation Season and can remember our recent and some not so recent graduations.
Since we are all graduates in various fields to at least degree level, we asked around the company to surreptitiously discover what they considered to be the worst gifts they have received. Then amalgamated their answers to identify the 10 most unpopular gifts that a graduating person would least like to receive.

Top 10 worst Gifts they received, but didn’t want

1) Offer of a week’s holiday at somebody’s apartment in Benalmadena. (Still under construction and recently featured in Homes From Hell)
2) Watches and jewellery for men. The more expensive the worse it is. Of all the boys in Basketsgalore nobody is wearing any jewellery of any description. Are we indicative of British and Irish 20 something male society?
3) A couple of people said beer because they are either allergic to it or simply don’t like it. The general consensus is that none of us likes to receive beer or spirits.
4) Clothes. It’s impossible to buy clothes for men.
5) Weekend breaks with relatives.
6) Technology gizmos, one girl received a gadget which was meant to enable TV through laptop, which has never worked. Young women in general are not appreciative of technological gifts.
7) Digital radios bought for people who live outside cities which will not work until 2012
8) Really cheap and nasty Beauty Packs
9) Rose scented beauty packs which sit in cupboards gathering dust until you need an emergency gift for somebody, you don’t really know very well. Then they will get the Rose Scented Beauty products.
10) Nasty food gifts. Examples being Cheap Turkish Delight, commercialised chocolates where the emphasis is on the country of origin, simply for the sake of it.

Quite clearly the moral of the story is that only a gift basket or hamper created by Basketsgalore can be guaranteed to delight a graduate this summer in the UK. It really is the perfect way to send your congratulations message. Not one person mentioned a gift in a basket or hamper as being something they didn’t want to receive. And since Basketsgalore assembles the nicest gift baskets in the UK, which can be seen at: http://basketsgalore.co.uk/gifts-occasion/congratulations-gifts.html then it is completely logical to suggest that Basketsgalore is the safest and best choice to make when you want to send a Graduations Gift in the UK.

BG.co.uk

UK Gifts World Cup Delivery Promotion

2010-06-11T19:05:00.002+01:00

FREE CHOCOLATE IN YOUR HAMPER or GIFT BASKET TO WINNING NATIONS RESIDENTS

We’re offering gift bonuses in the UK version of Basketsgalore for all customers during the World Cup. Here is a selection of our offers for the opening round of matches. All offers expire after all teams have played one game and will be replaced with new offers.

ENGLAND V USA

If England win, quote ENGLAND in the additional field and receive a complimentary bar of James’ English Chocolate.
If the United States avoid defeat to England, quote USA and receive 6 free chocolate cream eggs from Kraft Foods due to the packaging similarity with the American flag.
Offer Open to British and American residents only

AUSTRALIA v GERMANY

If Australia win this game, quote Australia and receive a complimentary bottle of Aussie Champers. Offer open to Australian Residents only.

NEW ZEALAND v SLOVAKIA

If New Zealand win, quote New Zealand for deliveries of Gift Baskets to the UK and receive complimentary kiwi fruits to adorn your gift basket. Open to New Zealand residents.

SOUTH AFRICA v MEXICO

If South Africa win and you’re a South African resident, quote South Africa to receive South African Beef Jerky.

ITALY v PARAGUAY

If Italy win, and you’re residing in Italy, then quote ITALY and receive a FREE Italian chocolate Cigar by Vendi.

For all other nationalities if your team wins in the opening round of matches, simply quote your country in the additional fields section of the order form and you will receive a complimentary bar of chocolate in your hamper gift for delivery in the UK.

We hope you enjoy the World Cup and shopping for your Gift Baskets with Basketsgalore.

Basketsgalore UK

Fathers Day Gifts Uk

2010-06-08T14:13:00.002+01:00

Father's Day Gifts UK

Last week would have been our Dad's 60th Birthday. It was always quite an awkward time of year as you had to think of 2 gift ideas for him within quite a short period of time. Also the difference between his Birthday and Father's Day was just long enough to make it impossible to double up.

Its always the complaint of people who's Birthday falls within a few days of Christmas time that they receive only one gift which is usually dubbed a part Birthday/part Christmas gift. However, doubling up can be a useful way of stretching the budget so that more expensive gift ideas can be considered.

Looking back Father's Day always seemed to be such an awkward gift occasion. Inevitably it would be promoted in the shops and you would attempt to obtain a personal gift pertaining to your father's interests. Like a lot of men his main loves were football, in his case Tottenham Hotspur, his car and his holidays.

Invariably our gifts to him tended to reflect this, but after so many years of Birthday Presents, Christmas Gifts and Fathers Days Gifts it does tend to get rather repetitive. And so it comes to pass that we are all working in our gift basket and hamper company in the UK. It is us who are responsible for creating an online shopping experience, which we think would be useful for people around the world and in the UK when it comes to shopping for a gift for Dad on Father's Day.

Basketsgalore does not sell all manner of gift ideas for Fathers Day. We create gourmet gift hampers, which we know our Dad would be delighted to receive. The quality of the contents and the attention to presentation and detail is something he helped instill in us, so it is only appropriate that we make sure that every Father's Day Hamper is immaculately wrapped and styled.

And don't forget that Basketsgalore has a new section which allows our customers to modify their gift basket according to individual tastes. This can be accessed at createyourowngiftbasket.co.uk.

Happy Father's Day in 2010

Favourite Gift Baskets Creations Today

2010-05-26T17:57:00.003+01:00

Hi all,

I'm taking a really keen interest in what type of gift baskets our customers are creating as it is of vital importance to us at Basketsgalore that our customers creations have a wow factor. We put a lot of effort into ensuring that our gift basket designs are matched and coordinated. It has to look beautiful and it has to represent outstanding value.

This is why our selection of items to place in your gift basket is carefully chosen and we are delighted with some of the ingenious gift ideas you are creating.

Our favourite 3 to-day are:

1) Gillian sent her mother in Dungannon a gift basket which included chunky chocolate, a Birthday Cake and a puzzle book. We were able to colour coordinate these 3 items with purple icing and the purple packaging to front the gift. At the rear we were able to add a novel, some nuts, a refreshing fruit flavoured sparkling drink and some chocolate. Completing the basket was a Birthday balloon. We were able to retain the purple theme and pink theme with a fuchsia coloured organza ribbon to create a gift we are confident her mother will comment upon when she sees Gillian this summer.

2) Phillipa from the UK was sending a gift to her sister in Carshalton and she designed a gift basket, which contained a Teddy Bear, a face mask, some body butter and some bath sachets along with a book of puzzles and a balloon. We placed all the items in a wicker linen lined basket and once again were able to colour coordinate the puzzle book to blend in with the brown teddy bear and white dominated pastel packaging of the beauty products.

3) And just to prove that it is not only women who create their own gift baskets, Tony from New York decided to create a gift basket, which contained a selection of salmon, cheese, marmalade, a wooden puzzle, a flowering plant basket, biscuits and several fruit packs including grapes aswell as a balloon. This was a really challenging selection to package, but our flexibility of containers allowed us to layer the gift with the fruit on top and the heavier, bulkier items beneath in a deep protective basket. When packing we simply treated the food basket and the flowering plant as 2 components and placed the balloon in the middle.

So after a short while of offering complete flexibility of design to our customers, we've got to conclude that it is working really well. We are able to ensure that the gifts you are designing look fantastic. It might sound funny, but this is so important to us. When we started Basketsgalore, we never set out to be a gift shop. We set out to create gifts, which we would be delighted to receive ourselves as only then could we be content with what our business represented.

There is no gift basket from our range that we would be disappointed to receive. This is why we don't offer the really small sized jars simply to make our baskets look like they contain more items. We are delighted to say that your ideas look fantastic aswell.

Carry on Gift Basketing

Basketsgalore UK

Gift Basket Efficiency

2010-05-25T22:57:00.004+01:00

Efficiency of Gift Basket Operations.

Basketsgalore will be investing once more in its infrastructure this summer in order to further drive down the cost of providing gift baskets and hampers throughout the UK and Ireland. Even now it appears that it is better value for gift basket consumers to order their gift in the UK and then pay the shipping to Western European countries rather than use a local company.

In the highly competitive UK market, Basketsgalore is determined to continue to extract efficiencies of operation. So we are designing our own bespoke operational processing floor, which will enable the company to assemble your gift baskets quicker and even better.

The layout will resemble that of a large hotel kitchen with multiple stainless steel work services and catering bench fridges. We'll also be operating a just in time work process, which is particularly important at Christmas since speed of assembly translates into lower gift hamper costs for our customers.
yy
Ww have noticed many businesses doing one of three things.
1) Reducing the sizes of their products, this years Easter Eggs being a prime example, which were 15% smaller than last year.
2) Raising Prices to cover increasing costs
3) Lowering quality and level of service.

Basketsgalore is going to do none of these things. Instead we are simply going to improve our efficiency of operations and improve our economies of scale.

We're investing in improving the service with major changes to our websites speed and organsation. And we are offering a wider and more comprehensive service.

In order to acchieve this we are re-designing our main assembly area and as with previous years the our annual improvements will be undertaken over the course of a summer time week-end so that there is absolutely no impact upon our operations and delay for our customers.

Basktsgalore UK

Some more Gift Baskets Built by You

2010-05-24T22:34:00.002+01:00

Designing Your Own Gift Baskets

Its great to see the fun that our customers are having with our self select gift basket site. Here are a few recent creations, which caught our eye.

Kamelia created a gift for her husband in Essex, UK, which contained a combination of healthy food items and cute little chocolate pigs. Her selection was an iced Birthday Cake, the chunky chocolate, an assortment of biscuits, lemonade, detox tea, some gourmet cheese, nuts and olives along with the chocolate pigs.

Alexis sent her Mum in Scotland, UK a gift containing primarily fruity chocolate such as chocolate strawberries, orange piece chocolate bar, raspberry and meringue chunky chocolate and the award winning apricot, plum and fig handmade chocolates. She retained the fruity theme with raspberry shortbread and banoffie crumble biscuits to which she added shortbread and milk truffles set within a wicker hamper bedecked with red ribbons and bow.

Helena chose a birthday cake to send to her mother in the UK to which she added some hand cream, a chamomile face mask and luxurious milk bath sachets. These were wrapped individually from her selection of fruit, which included exotic, caribbean and citrus fruit along with some grapes.

Three gift baskets sent to mothers and husbands in the UK.

We've seen a few interesting selections in tomorrows dispatches and it is really exciting to see what our customers are creating. Next on our list of things to do to ensure Basketsgalore really is the UK's Favourite Gift Basket Company is to make all these creations available to share online between our customers.

If you had asked us 5 years ago if it was logistically or technologically possible to deliver such a personalised service, we might have been a little dubious. However with the speed of technological advance online, it is only a matter of time and Basketsgalore always strives to deliver more than our customers expect.

Happy Gift Basketing from all at Basketsgalore UK

Diary of A Basket Case Part 2

2010-05-23T23:34:00.002+01:00

Hello again,

My journey from the fields of China to the warehouse of the UK's leading gift basket and hamper supplier has been temporarily put on hold.

I am writing this from a British port where I am awaiting clearance from UK customs.

Since the last time I wrote it has been 2 weeks since we departed the balmy climate of Dubai where the temperature inside our container reached an uncomfortable level. As you can imagine we are packed in here like sardines and all my fellow baskets are looking forward to arriving in the UK.

It took us a few days but finally we reached the east coast of England in the UK to one of the worlds largest container depots. Our container was lifted gently from our Super sized container ship to a holding area with other containers from all around the world destined for other parts of the United Kingdom and Europe.

After a few days we were loaded onto a smaller ship for a short sail around the British Isles, past East Anglia, London's Thames Estuary, through the English Channel and past Bristol's Severn Estuary and up the west coast of Britain.

We have reached our final port of call, but as luck would have it we have been earmarked for inspection by British customs.

The delay is upsetting for me. I can't wait to see my new home in the Gift Basket and hamper Factory. I'm looking forward to feeling the fresh cool air of the UK and finding out what sort of gift basket I am likely to grow into when I reach my final destination.

Maybe I will be a Get Well Gift Basket, maybe a Thank-You Gift, could I be a Birthday Gift Hamper? Many of my fellow baskets are speculating that the reason for our fancy linen lining is that we are all going to be baby gift baskets. However, we could as easily be gourmet fruit hampers and the extra lining is simply extra protection. Alternatively we could all be destined to be fancy food containers as we all have such a high quality look about us that we could have a multiplicity of uses for several years into the future.

I can't wait to arrive.

Basket X

New Hamper Basket Containers

2010-05-21T16:23:00.005+01:00

New Hamper Basket Containers

Hello this Friday afternoon,

Its the first warm day of the year in this part of the UK, the first day that we are able to sit in the office in T-Shirts rather than our usual pull-overs and body warmers. If you are wondering why there are much fewer syntax and typographical errors in our spring/ summer blog articles, that's because it's much easier to type when you don't have to wear gloves.

Onto the news:
We've brought in a whole new range of basket containers which are beautifully woven and especially designed to suit Basketsgalore Gifts and Hampers.

With larger volume buying we are able to upgrade the baskets on the following gift baskets.

Good For You Birthday Basket
Ladies Day
Birthday Party Basket
Sparkling Tastes

With these hamper gifts, the basket will be linen lined making it an even more useful container for our customers to use around the home. It also enhances the appearance of the gift as it enables us to incorporate the balloon within the design framework of the food products. It's just another little step in our quest for perfection when it comes to designing your gift hampers and gift baskets.

Example Line lined Gift Basket pictured below:

These basket containers are ideal for creating your own hamper gifts and can be bought indvidually from our build your own website for delivery anywhere in the UK.

Basketsgalore UK