This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BIGSeason #BigLots #CollectiveBias
The holiday season is the favorite time of year for many of us; it is such a joyful time filled with love. I have the most wonderful memories of my childhood during the holidays. We always spent Christmas Eve at my Grandma Charlotte’s house, and Christmas mornings were spent opening gifts with my parents. Things have changed a lot since then. Now, as an Army family, we are almost always far away from our family and friends for the holidays. Last year was Charlotte’s first Christmas, and we spent the morning opening gifts that had been sent halfway across the country by our wonderful family while visiting with them via Facetime. The holidays are really hard for me now that I am so far away from everything I have ever known, and especially my Mom. I am the biggest Momma’s girl. It makes sending the perfect gifts home even more important, because you really want your loved ones to feel connected to you even though you are so many miles away. So, because of this distance between us, I have decided to start a new tradition: A Holiday Gift Basket for her. Something that she can receive every year that will make both of us feel a little more connected during the season. I hope we don’t always have to spend the holidays apart, but in this crazy Army life, we never know where we will end up next.
When it comes to gifts and decor for the holidays, I always pop in to Big Lots first. My mom is a Big Lots lover, we have been going there together since as far back as I can remember. Big Lots was also the first store I went to when John and I moved to GA. The morning we moved in, my mom and I ran to Big Lots to acquire a few household items I was missing. They carry pretty much everything, so we know we can go to once store instead of five… and, they go all out for the holidays. For my mom’s Holiday Gift Basket, I wanted to go with a wine theme. Her kitchen is decorated in a wine theme, so I thought this would be the perfect basket! To my excitement, Big Lots had everything I was looking for. In fact, I seriously considered sending my Mom TWO gift baskets because I found so many other things I knew she would love!
Here is what you need to make this Wine Themed Holiday Gift Basket.
Large basket
Gift wrapping supplies to decorate your basket.
Wine scented candles, in holiday colors.
Lotion to keep skin soft in the holiday weather.
Warm throw blanket, to stay warm.
Kitchen towels for decor and cleaning up cooking messes!
Hand soap for bathroom decor – the more rooms you fill with gifts, the more reminders that you love and miss her.
Winter themed wine glasses to share a warming glass of red wine.
Holiday themed cork, to keep the wine fresh.
Cheese plate to share convos over glasses of wine.
Fun little light up decor. My mom loves decorating for the holidays!
Now that you have everything you need (keep in mind that styles and assortment vary by store), it is time to decorate & arrange everything in the basket.
- Start by decorating the outside of the basket.
- Place the blanket at the bottom of the basket. This will help everything stay safely in place.
- Add the largest pieces you’ve chosen to the back of the basket. For my basket, that would include the cheese plate & lotions.
- Wrap the hand towels around the wine glasses for safe travel and place the glasses on each side of the basket.
- Place the smaller items in the middle of the basket to fill in the rest of the space.
Now for a little DIY. I purchased these smoked glass ornaments while at Big Lots as well. They have so much Christmas Decor to choose from, it was hard not to go crazy. I wanted to find some small plain ornaments that I could write all five of our names on to send to my mom in the basket as well. That way, we still get to be part of the tree back home!
After writing the names, I wrapped them in this super adorable festive tissue paper and tied them with the ribbon! So cute, and so simple!
Once the ornaments were wrapped, it was time add them to complete the basket.
So there you have it – the perfect Holiday Gift Basket! It was so easy to find everything I needed at Big Lots. I would recommend stopping there for all of your holidays shopping before anywhere else. They have such a great selection of quality gifts, decor and gift wrapping accessories and all at an incredible price. I was so inspired while I was there, I want to make Holiday Gift Baskets for everyone in my life!
Where do you do your holiday shopping?