How Important is Tissue Paper?
There was a time when tissue paper played a vital role in gift basket designing.
Here’s how designers once added it in their baskets.
It seems that tissue paper isn’t a big part of today’s designs. Still a favorite to line the inside of tote bag gifts, it’s no longer a featured technique, adding color and softness inside and around a completed basket.
How is tissue paper added to your designs, or is it a product that you’ve abandoned?
Elegant Enhancements Add Class and Style
The first time I saw a long, floral garland at a wholesale outlet, my first question was “How do I take this big thing and add it to my gift baskets?”
Little did I know that all that I needed was a pair of wire clippers to snip and cut the garland into short and long pieces.
I thought that all enhancements were purchased in the exact length as shown in other gift basket designs, so there I was, looking for pre-cut products to add into my baskets.
Was that your mode of thinking when you decided to start making your designs?
As the years passed, designers worldwide showed me different tips and tricks about enhancements that stay with me today, making quick work of adding these items to complete each theme.
1. Purchase seasonal picks during the off season. Spring picks bought during the fall or winter are often 70 to 80 percent off the regular price.
2. Remove the wire from wired enhancements that are too full to add as one piece. This is a frequent habit for me each time I purchase three-pronged pine picks.
3. Curl star spray and onion grass stems with open scissors to create a full and abundant appearance.
Ribbons and bows, which you’ll read about here, are two more enhancements that are added atop the completed design or included inside next to foods and gifts.
What’s your favorite method for adding or buying enhancements?
Where Do You Learn to Make Bows?
When Flora Morris Brown of GiftBasketBusinessWorld.com and I toured a commercial district in Los Angeles several years ago for the “Where Did You Get That?” report, we found a baby products retailer where the women employees were making bows.
Their bowmaking style was quite different than anything we’d ever seen, and Flora and I continued asking them questions about merchandise and looking around the store while watching the bowmaking in action.
We stayed in the store until we were both sure that we could duplicate the bowmaking technique they inadvertently taught us.
The same thing happened for me in a high-end supermarket just 20 minutes away from my office. It’s a specialty shop where gift baskets are made every day in a section where you can see the basket design and bowmaking through clear plexiglass that keeps the shred and other supplies from escaping while the basket designs are created.
I often stop shopping close to the design section to see what’s happening and if there are any pointers I can pick up.
A time will never come when I’m so sure of my own techniques that I won’t stop to watch someone else in action, as other gift basket-making styles provide new ideas and insights into how another designer enhances the gifts they create. My hope is that you treat your business in the same manner.
Is there a place in your region where you have the ability to watch bowmaking while shopping? There are bowmaking tutorials available online, but why stop there when you can get an up close and personal demonstration practically in your own backyard?
You’ll find more information about ribbons and bows on this page.
What’s Your Favorite Enhancement?
Last week, just before I conducted a gift basket seminar at a garden industry conference, two attendees approached the stage and began admiring the enhancements added between and around the displayed baskets.
The faux dragonflies, birds, and pinwheels were every-day ornaments, at least to me, but I began to realize that not everyone sees these types of items the same way I do.
That got me wondering — how often do customers point out how beautiful the enhancements are in your gift baskets — or is there something else (container, contents, etc.) that they focus on?
I admit that some of my enhancements are purchased at retail craft stores, but most are ordered at New York International Gift Fair where discounts and other incentives are plentiful.
Perhaps you include enhancements in your gift baskets but not many due to cost. I understand. There are times when these picks can cost just as much as a package of cookies or soup. But thankfully, I have noticed a recent reduction in prices. Perhaps you have, too.
Designers I work with usually add no more than three enhancements, which includes picks, floral greenery, and miniature bows. Star spray, shown in the above photo and featured in The Gift Basket Design Book, is also popular.
What types of enhancements thrill your clients?
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