So this is your man’s big day and you want to make it extra special for him by giving him a gift. Since you are reading this article I am happily assuming that you have decided to give him a gift basket. Good idea, nothing says celebration like a big basket full of all the goodness! A gift basket for a man is beyond the ordinary or the usual gift in my opinion.
By ordinary and usual I mean the typical things to gift. It is so easy to reach out for the usual- as suggested by hundreds of magazines and commercials, that one electronic product or leather jacket etc.
Not that it is completely wrong or it does not express your love. Just that there is something beautiful about a gift basket that took a lot of thought since it has so many products in it. The person picked each product by themselves, arranged the basket and made it look beautiful. It is all their creativity and thoughtfulness poured out into this one basket filled with love.
Uhm… now that I am done romanticising the idea of a gift basket. It is time to get down to what all you need to make this the best gift basket for your man. These are some important steps that you should follow to help outline your gift basket idea.
Set A Budget for the Gift Basket
Once you are shopping for the gifts, enthusiasm can easily turn into over-enthusiasm, triggering overspending.
If you have slightly more deep pockets than most of us and don’t care about the budget too much, then skip this part.
For others, and the majority of us, it is probably a good idea to set a budget. Since a typical gift basket will include a lot of gifts, setting a budget in advance will help you stay within the limit.
How much you want to spend on the gift basket is your own personal decision. But regardless, gift baskets are so versatile that you can make it interesting even on a small budget. I have some tips on what to put in the gift basket for men even on a tiny budget. Check out the homemade delights DIY gift basket for a man idea below.
Size Of The Gift Basket
Why is it important to think of the size of the basket? Because without it you cannot decide what and how much to put in the gift basket.
A half filled basket or even an overfilled basket isn’t as appealing to the eyes as the one that is filled ‘just the right amount’.
How I like to do this is to buy the basket first, before I start buying the gifts. This way I can keep fitting the items in the basket as I buy them. It gives me a good idea how much space I have left so I don’t buy too much or too less.
You can even decide to buy the basket in the end. However, If you do decide to postpone this decision to the very end when you have bought everything that will go into the basket, you could run into some issues. The products might not fit right or you might need more or fewer products to make it look right.
Decoration For The Gift Basket
I feel decoration is also an integral part of a gift basket. After all without all the decoration, is it really possible to make it look special and fit for a celebration?
Just because it is a gift basket for a man, it does not need to be plain and boring. Take it to the next level with some decoration.
The budget for the decoration should be part of your gift basket budget that we discussed earlier.
These are all tiny details but they make the gift basket stand out.
The decoration bit is all you! it is an expression of your love and personal creativity.
Things to put in a gift basket for a man
This would depend on if you want to follow a theme for the basket or just fill it with random stuff your man likes.
You can choose to fill it up with store-bought products, make it a complete DIY inspired basket or mix it up – add a few homemade, DIY variety products and store-bought products.
It somewhat also depends on how much time you have. Any DIY gift will take more time than a store-bought gift.
But here are some ideas to get the ball rolling!
Homemade Gift Basket Ideas For A Man
Now that we have figured out the essentials bit, it is time to brainstorm some ideas for what exactly to keep in the basket. These ideas can be easily modified to fit any budget.
An Ode To His Taste Buds
Use the gift basket idea to gift him all that he likes to eat. After all, there is a famous saying- the route to the man’s heart is through his stomach- let’s put it to test!
Sweet Tooth Basket
Pack up the gift basket with all his favorite chocolate items.Use a variety of products so that he is spoilt for choice.
Let’s not make it look like the plain vanilla supermarket chocolate isle though.
Add different types of products, as well as something new for him to try. Pick a few of his favorite chocolate bars, add a few chocolate truffles, add some chocolate filled with alcohol, chocolate spreads, Chocolate filled wafer sticks, chocolate covered fruits, chocolate covered nuts and raisins, chocolate chip cookies from his favorite store etc.
For the alcohol filled chocolate try liquor stores, as not all supermarkets (especially the ones without the alcohol license) sell these!
Add Some Spice To Your Life Gift Basket
Not all people like spice. And honestly when it comes to gift baskets people often only suggest sweet baskets. But I also know that there are people out there who like to eat spicy food. My man is one of those!
So why not make a spicy basket for the ones who can handle the fire.
My man loves spicy food and drinks. So for our anniversary, I made him a ‘spicy’ basket.
In the basket, I kept some spicy snacks (he likes some of the Asian brands, that are really very spicy). I also added some snacks that he had not tried before. Jars of spicy store-bought and homemade hummus and spreads. I added coupons for homemade spicy nacho cheese plate, a spicy homemade pizza coupon redeemable any weekend with beer!
And I surprised him with a freshly prepared spicy cocktail alongside the gift basket. The cocktail I made for him had fiery jalapenos, cucumber, mint leaves and some white rum!
And oh speaking of surprises, check out my blog #11 Tips On how to reveal a surprise gift Fail-Proof so you can surprise your man the next time around!
Personal Care Gift Basket
Men have great loyalty towards the products they use, barely trying out anything new in the market unless they need something for a new personal care endeavor.
Take this opportunity to introduce him to some of the new products that have popped up in this arena in recent years. A few years ago there weren’t really too many options for men in the personal care department. But the men’s product landscape has gone through a lot of changes since.
Now the retailers have started paying attention to the almost ignored market segment.
But along with the new finds, keep some of his beloved personal products too.
The personal care gift basket for a man can include body wash, shaving cream, new trimmer, hair gel, body and face cream along with face and body exfoliating scrub- even if he is the type who believes his body does not need it.
For the personal care products though, the only thing to be mindful of might be the smell. Not everyone likes strong or floral smells etc. Make sure to check the smell of the product before adding it to the gift basket.
A Homemade DIY Delights Gift Basket
Another idea is to make a gift basket for a man filled with everything you made yourself.
If you have a tiny budget, then this is the one to make and impress.
This gift basket for a man can include a small canvas with his favorite quote, a funny line from one of his favorite movies/ TV show, an inspirational quote, a big thank you for being the man you love and care about, some baked goods, homemade granola, homemade chocolate, chocolate covered popcorn etc.
Baked/ homemade goods are certainly a product of labor, they are more noteworthy than what you can buy with money. So don’t be afraid to plan a gift basket even if you have a tiny budget.
You can also make the canvas yourself- you only need a canvas and some paints. If you don’t have good handwriting there are stencils available in craft stores to help with that.
This is one of those ideas that seems a little daunting especially because it needs a lot of planning in advance.
Time is another big factor for this gift basket, and not everyone has the time to make everything from scratch. Choose a few that you can manage based on your schedule. But as long as you have both- planning and time, figured out, you are good to go.
It is also probably a good idea not to fill up this basket with items that do not store well. There is only so much a man can eat in one day, no matter how much he loves all there is in the basket.
Electronics Gift Basket For A Man
Before we even start with this gift basket, this electronics gift basket for a man does not need to be full of electronics.
The electronic item only takes the center stage. This item will be the superstar of this basket.
Alongside this electronic item include some products that go along with it. For instance, shaving cream and after shave lotion with a trimmer, photobook and a photo frame to go with a camera etc.
‘Mix It Up’ Gift Basket For A Man
Any of the gift baskets above are all suggestions, not rules!
There is nothing wrong with making this gift basket for a man a mix of all that he likes or you want to gift. Make it a mix of DIY and store-bought items. For instance, make a jar of his favorite hummus and add some pita chips from the supermarket. Make cupcakes/ granola/ potato chips/ fruit jam and add some personal care items in the basket as well.
A fun idea for a mix gift basket for a man can be a survival kit gift basket- with some alcohol, personal care products, swiss army knife and some food items.
The mix gift basket idea is easier than the other baskets in my opinion since you don’t have to follow a theme sort of. It also is a great opportunity to show how well you know him to not just focus on one of his likes. But as I said earlier, there really aren’t any rules to this, and that’s a good thing.
What products do you like to keep in your gift basket for a man? Share them in the comments below.
Pearl
