How to Make a Personalized Wedding Gift Basket

A personalized wedding gift basket doesn't have to be difficult or overly costly! Follow these tips for a beautiful gift that will stand out from the rest and show how much you care.

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I love giving personalized gifts. They're a fun way to show the gift recipient how special they are to you, and they can also be a way to save money while still making something unique and one-of-a-kind!

Our son Braden is getting married in late October and we are so excited to welcome Elissa (Liss) into our family! They just bought their first home, and we've been enjoying the discussions we've had as they've talked over their plans to make it homey with DIY projects like new paint, new hardware, cleaning up the yard, and adding their own stamp to the home. It's going to be so cute and I remember how much fun it was to decorate our first home!


Tips for creating personalized gift baskets

These gift basket tips can apply to any gift, whether it be a wedding, baby shower, birthday or other celebration!

Tip No. 1: Scour the gift registry for ideas

A gift registry is so valuable! It helps you to visually see the gift recipient's style, colors and what kinds of things they like!

Go through the registry carefully and pay attention to these clues as it can really help you to put together a gift basket that is not only personal, but unique, creative and fun.

Here are the things I took away from Braden and Liss' registry:
  • they like neutral colors, as well as colors found in nature
  • their style is more modern and minimalistic
  • cooking is very important to them (something they enjoy together)
  • they like glass, baskets and wood 

These clues really helped to give me a starting point. I knew I wanted to create a gift basket with a kitchen or cooking theme.

What if there is no registry?

For Christmas gifts, birthday gifts and other occasions, there usually isn't a registry. BUT everyone shops on Amazon these days! Ask the recipient to create a list on Amazon with 8-12 things they like, and then to share the list with you! You can still creative and unique and thoughtful gift basket using the rest of my tips!

Tip No. 2: Make the vessel/basket part of the gift

It just makes sense to make the vessel or basket that your gift is in part of the gift! Braden and Liss had added this large acacia wood salad bowl to their registry and I bought it, knowing I could use the bowl as the gift basket and fill it up with the rest of the items.


Insider tip: If you're creating a baby shower gift, consider using a toy basket or even a baby tub as the vessel that the rest of the gift will be displayed in! For a teen, what about a backpack or even a helmet (turn it upside down and fill with other items!)      

Tip No. 3: Make personalized gifts yourself or with help

If you own a Silhouette or Cricut machine, you can make custom gifts that your recipient will love! I use my Silhouette all the time to make personalized gifts for others as well as custom tees, signs and home decor in my own home! 

Here are a few projects I've made:

 
For the wedding gift basket, I purchased this set of amber glass pump soap bottles and personalized them by adding 'hands' and 'dishes' with glossy white vinyl. I used my Silhouette machine to create the graphic (measuring the bottles first so I knew how big I wanted my letters to be). It's a little touch that just takes your gift to another level!


Another idea I had, which works well with my 'Cooking' theme, is personalized aprons.  I used these white cotton aprons and added a fun graphic that I made, as well as the wedding date, again in Silhouette Design Studio. This time I used black HTV ( heat transfer vinyl) to cut out the design and then I ironed it onto the aprons with my Cricut EasyPress. I love that these aprons are one size fits all, and they're classy black and white.


The personalized aprons turned out adorable and the bride and groom loved them! Look how cute they are styling their aprons at the shower! ❤❤

What if I don't own a Silhouette or Cricut to make personalized gifts?

Thankfully, there are many creators who will do this for you! Check out Etsy for tons of custom ideas! With a quick search, I found several Etsy stores that can make custom aprons, like this one and this one.

I used online store  Mary's Kitchen Flour Sack Towels to create a keepsake towel for the wedding shower gift basket. It's screenprinted with grandma Long's Chocolate Fudge Pie recipe on it, a family favorite! These towels are great quality, the colors are vibrant, and I know it will be a gift that is cherished!


There are lots of sellers on Etsy who can create custom beach towels, custom  mugs and even hats. These are all wedding themed, but you get the idea! There are numerous ways to create personalized gifts, even if you don't do the actual creating yourself!

Make a Photo Book

Another idea that is totally customizable is a photo book. I went a step further and created a custom recipe book, filling it with our family's favorite recipes and adding pictures that I took myself. I used Snapfish because I've made books with them before and I love the quality and their prices are always very reasonable (make sure to do a Google search for a coupon code as there are always active ones!).


Tip No.4: Creative packaging

Finally, get creative with the way you package and wrap your gift basket! Because my basket had a kitchen theme, I added some unbleached flour sack towels. I draped two over the edge of the wood bowl, and folded another one into a fabric rosette. You can see how easy it is to fold napkin roses here.


Here are few packaging tips for the best presentation

  1. use attractive filler like this neutral crinkle cut shredded paper to elevate your items in the basket so they're more prominent
  2. nestle items in the shredded paper, adding a handful under specific items to lift them even further (I did this with the heavier glass bottles)
  3. think in terms of layers - the highest item should be at the back, with shorter items in front
  4. use clear cellophane basket bags (I found mine at Dollar Tree) to create a grouping
  5. place the card inside the bag before closing it up

The cookbook that I made didn't comfortably fit inside the wood bowl, so I placed it into the clear gift bag first and then placed the bowl filled with gifts on top.


It's tantalizing to see part of the gift but not really know exactly what it is!


I hope you've found these tips for putting together a personalized gift basket helpful, whether you're shopping for a wedding or a new baby!

Pin it to remember!


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