27 Christmas Basket Gift Ideas (Filled With Things People Want)

Enter the Christmas gift basket, the underdog of holiday giving.

A basket isn’t just one gift. It’s a whole collection of little delights, wrapped in cellophane and topped with a bow. Of course, it says, “I thought about you.” But more importanttly, it says, “I know you love fancy hot cocoa.”

Gift baskets work for practically everyone on your list: the coffee snob, the self-care queen, the grill master, the bookworm, even the coworker whose name you’re 80% sure is Brian. Make them yourself or buy them ready to go. Spend a little or splurge. You decide!

So grab some ribbon and a cup of something festive. We’ve rounded up our favorite Christmas basket ideas to make this your easiest, merriest gifting season yet.

Cozy Christmas Nights In

These cozy-night baskets are the most Christmas-y on the list, and most of them cover a whole family or couple in one go. My pick is the Christmas Movie Night Basket: the popcorn buckets and basket bags come from a dollar store, and one basket counts as the gift for the whole household. Pass on the Cozy Night-In Basket if you don’t own a cutting machine to make its decals. Plain mugs and a handwritten tag get you the same cozy gift.

Christmas Movie Night Basket

For families, or a couple who lives for December movie marathons. Fill two popcorn buckets, one with microwave popcorn and one with kernels and a jar of homemade caramel sauce, then add soda, cookies, pretzels and candy. Crumple packing paper under the shred (the crinkly paper filler) to lift everything so it looks full. A movie theater gift card tucked in the side makes it feel finished.

Christmas Pajama Gift Box

For teens and adults, handed over on Christmas Eve. A clear cake box with a lid turns the presentation into part of the gift. Inside go flannel pajama pants laid flat, shower shoes, lotion, body wash, bath bombs and a couple of ornaments. The pajama pants ran about $2 and the box about $1.50, yet a filled box is about a $45 gift (prices may have changed).

Christmas Eve Box

For kids and grandkids to open the night before Christmas. Pack pajama pants, a Christmas book, a T-shirt, hot cocoa, a mug and chocolates. Monogramming is optional. The simple version needs no cutting machine and still looks planned. Keep the box small so it feels like a treat, not a second Christmas morning.

Family Game Night Basket

For families, a white elephant swap or Secret Santa, when one gift has to please a crowd. Add a party game, a couple of card games and a few mini games, most about $1.25 at a dollar store (prices may have changed), plus candy for between rounds. On a tight budget, one board game and a tin of Christmas popcorn is honestly enough.

Christmas S’mores Kit

A Secret Santa, teacher or family-with-kids gift that is cheap enough to make in batches. Fill a small gift box with a gel fuel pot to toast on, toasting sticks, marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers. If the box is flimsy, tape it to make it sturdier. There’s an open flame involved, so adults run the toasting.

Cozy Night-In Basket

For a best friend or a couple who would pick the couch over a holiday party. Pair two mugs with jars of hot cocoa and mini marshmallows, a bottle bag holding wine or sparkling cider, warm socks and a throw blanket. The mug decals need a cutting machine, though. Plain mugs with a hand-lettered tag do the same job with less fuss.

Warm Drinks and Sweet Treats

Consumables are my favorite kind of basket because nothing is left cluttering a shelf in January, which makes them easy wins for co-workers, neighbors and hosts. If I could make only one here, it would be the Hot Cocoa Slow-Cooker Basket, since one slow cooker stands in for four or five separate gifts to the same family. Leave the Chocolate Lover’s Basket off the list for anyone cutting back on sugar. A warm drink basket will land better.

Hot Cocoa Slow-Cooker Basket

For a whole family, or as a realtor’s closing gift over the holidays. The small slow cooker is the keeper and the main cost. Add a ladle, two flavors of cocoa (three packets each make a pot, and packets ran under 50 cents each, prices may have changed), mini marshmallows, chocolate wafer sticks and candy canes.

Christmas Gift-in-a-Jar Basket

For co-workers, neighbors or a group when you need several gifts fast. The cocoa mix is 1 cup each of cocoa powder, sugar and dry milk, topped with mini marshmallows. Write “1/3 cup per cup of hot water” on the tag. Gingerbread and brownie mixes in jars round it out, each in a gable box that ran about 99 cents (prices may have changed). For someone who prefers savory, swap in a soup mix in a jar with a loaf of bread.

Christmas Morning Breakfast Basket

For a family you’ll see on Christmas morning, or a host who has you over for brunch. Start with a thrifted basket (the one in the video cost $2), then add pancake mix, syrup, butter cookies, biscuits, jam and a bacon spread. To give it something that lasts past breakfast, add a small waffle iron and a bottle of real maple syrup.

Coffee Lover’s Basket

For the daily coffee drinker on your list, whether that’s a co-worker or your parents. The keeper is a full-size 12-cup coffee maker, found for about $5 to $7 on sale instead of the usual $18 (prices may have changed). Add a mug, ground and instant coffee, creamer and cookies, with tall items at the back so everything shows. Finish with a shrink bag, clear plastic that tightens with heat (a hair dryer works), for a store-bought look.

Chocolate Lover’s Basket

For the host or friend who always takes the chocolate dessert. A marble cutting board is the keeper, so it isn’t only candy. Layer in chocolate bars, a big Toblerone, fudge, chocolate almonds, biscotti, peppermint sticks and an evergreen candle. Apart from the board and the candle, everything gets eaten, so there’s nothing to find room for after Christmas.

Tea Lover’s Basket

For tea drinkers, teachers or church friends who keep a kettle going all December. Use a tea box as the container, or make the almost-free version with a pretty teacup as the holder, then add a few teas and sweeteners. Local honey, lemon drops and shortbread round it out.

Baskets for Her, Him, Kids and Pets

When you’re shopping by person rather than by theme, start here. I keep coming back to the Kids’ and Teens’ Christmas Basket: the laundry basket and blanket are both keepers, and there’s no wrapping paper to throw away. If you have to stay under $25 a person, skip the Women’s Self-Care Basket. Its small items add up fast.

Women’s Self-Care Basket

For a sister, friend or co-worker who needs a quiet night in over the holidays. Fill a basket with bath salt, a journal and pens, foot pads, body oil, a face mask, a candle, a few chocolates and a small bottle of rosé. This basket gets billed as an under-$25 basket, but the listed prices add up to about $45 (prices may have changed). Take every price tag off before you wrap.

Men’s Holiday Gift Box

For dads, husbands or brothers who are hard to shop for. Level the items with foam board or cardboard so a tie set, a watch, men’s body products, cologne and a thermal cup sit at the same height. The tie set was about $1.50 on clearance (prices may have changed). A cut-out window in the lid, sealed with shrink film, is optional. If you don’t know what cologne he wears, pick a mild scent.

Kids’ and Teens’ Christmas Basket

For your own kids, nieces and nephews, when you want age-specific gifts in one place. Line a laundry basket with a blanket, which becomes both the wrapping and a keeper. Then fill by age: small toys for a toddler, kinetic sand and a doll for a school-age kid, video games, socks and art notebooks for a teen boy, skin care and a crochet kit for a teen girl. The catch: little kids who love tearing paper may miss the unwrapping, so this can land better with older kids and young adults.

Homemade Spa Basket

For the hard-to-shop-for friend who would never buy this for herself. The lavender bath soak is 1 cup Epsom salt, 1 cup coarse sea salt and a box of baking soda, with lavender essential oil and dried lavender. Add a salt-and-sugar scrub and a body oil you mix yourself. The basket feels personal because you made the best part.

Dog Christmas Gift Basket

For dog owners, a family with a new puppy, or your own dog. A personalized dog bowl is the container. Add treats and toys, plus a bandana, leash or waste bags to fill it out. Everything can come from a dollar store, and a gift bag works instead of shrink wrap.

Baskets for Hosts and Grown-Ups

Party season and white elephant swaps need gifts for grown-ups. The Mulled Wine Kit is the one I’d make: the pitcher is a keeper, and juice can stand in for the wine for anyone who doesn’t drink. A first-timer racing a deadline should leave the big Wine Basket alone. It needs extra-wide cellophane and some patience to wrap.

Mulled Wine Kit

For neighbors, hosts or a white elephant swap. A large pitcher is the container. Inside goes a tall bag of homemade mulled wine spice (dried oranges, lemons and apples, cinnamon sticks, spices and sugar) and a bottle of wine or juice, with printed directions tied to the bottle’s neck so nobody has to guess the method. Add a bottle stopper. Dollar-store shrink-wrap packs with a bow ran about $1.25 (prices may have changed).

Wine Basket

For wine drinkers, a boss or a couple you want to impress. Nestle two bottles in a large, deep basket with a wine sleeve, tasting forks, cheese, salami, crackers, an opener and glasses. Small glue dots (double-sided sticky dots) keep things from sliding. Use 40-inch cellophane, because 30-inch is too narrow for a basket this big. Since it holds cheese and salami, fill it close to the day you give it.

Charcuterie Host Basket

For whoever is hosting the Christmas party. Pack crackers, grainy mustard, salami, jams made for cheese, truffle honey, dried fruit and olives: everything for a cheese board except the cheese. Leaving the cheese out means you can give it ahead of the party.

Holiday Snack Basket

For grandparents or an office that snacks all through December. The snack basket is a big build. Lift it with loosely rolled paper and tissue so apple cider, cheese sticks, nuts, popcorn, candies and a few pears sit at different heights. A basket this size is about a $65 to $85 gift (prices may have changed), so set your budget before you shop.

Baskets for Hobbies and Passions

When you know what someone loves to do, build the basket around it. My choice here is the Gardener’s Terracotta Gift Pot, because the pot and saucer cost about as much as a fancy gift bag and get used again. The pot also works as a teacher gift. The Traveler’s Gift Kit is the one to skip for anyone who rarely leaves town.

Baker’s Basket

For the holiday baker with flour on the counter all December. A tin bucket holds cocoa, wooden spoons, a small kitchen sign, cake mix, icing tools, a cookie sheet and a cake-decorating book, and most items cost under $2 each (prices may have changed). Build it around one anchor item, like the book, so it doesn’t read as a pile of small things. The filled bucket is too big for a standard shrink bag, so wrap it in cellophane.

Book Lover’s Basket

For readers and book-club friends. A $5 thrift basket can hold a reader’s survival kit (a journal, a good pen, a bookmark, chocolates and tea) or a spa night version (a vintage book, lavender bath salts, lotion and lip balm). The simplest version is one book tied with ribbon and a sprig of greenery. For the most Christmas version, go gingerbread: a gingerbread book, homemade gingerbread cookies and a gingerbread-scented candle.

Gardener’s Terracotta Gift Pot

For gardeners, teachers or a retirement gift. A terracotta pot is the box and its saucer, turned upside down, is the lid. Choose one fill: paperwhite bulbs, garden gloves and chocolates, or seed packets and chocolates. Glue any dried botanical decor to a cardboard circle on the lid, not the saucer itself, so the saucer stays clean and can be reused.

Traveler’s Gift Kit

For a frequent flyer or a student heading abroad. A makeup bag is the base, so the container goes on the trip too. Fill it with travel toiletries, a phone charger, a waterproof passport pouch and one or two splurge items, such as a good sunscreen. Stick to one color scheme so the kit looks put together.

Car Care Basket

For car lovers, new drivers or dads. A metal basket holds a chamois cloth and a set of dollar-store car sprays (glass cleaner, spray wax, tire shine and more). It’s the plainest build on this list, and that’s fine for someone who’d rather have a clean car than a pretty basket.

How to Build a Christmas Gift Basket

1. Start with a keeper. Choose one item that stays after the snacks are gone: a mug, blanket, pitcher, slow cooker, cookie sheet or book. A pile of small things is fun to open but forgotten by February, so treat the treats as packaging around the keeper.
2. Pick your base. A dollar-store or thrift basket runs about $2 to $5 (prices may have changed). Or use a container that’s part of the gift, like a pitcher, slow cooker, dog bowl, terracotta pot or laundry basket.
3. Decide how many items. As a guideline, a small basket holds about 4 to 5 items, a medium one 5 to 8, and a large one 8 to 10 or more. Fill until it looks generous, not counted.
4. Lift and layer. Put crumpled paper or tissue in first, then shred on top. For a big basket, lay tissue down, add stuffing, and fold the tissue over it. Tall items go at the back and small ones in front.
5. Secure it. Glue dots or clear tape stop things from sliding. Skip hot glue near food.
6. Wrap it. For a large basket, lay the cellophane down before you fill, and buy the 40-inch width. For smaller baskets, a shrink bag and a hair dryer give a tight, clean finish. Add satin ribbon and a personal tag, and check that no price tags show.
7. Check the real cost. Small items add up. A basket billed as under $25 came to about $45, and a large snack basket is a $65 to $85 gift (prices may have changed). Set a budget for each basket before you shop. If something can’t go in a basket, like meat, tuck in a gift card for it.

Christmas Gift Basket Answers

Is It Cheaper to Make or Buy a Gift Basket?

Making one is usually cheaper if you keep the budget fixed and lean on a thrift or dollar-store base and consumables. Ready-made Christmas baskets run about $25 to $50 for a co-worker and up to about $200 for a spouse or parent, and store-bought ones can feel like very little product for the price. Buying makes more sense when you need to ship it or have no time to build.

What Else Is a Christmas Gift Basket Called?

Hamper is another name people use for a Christmas gift basket, and you’ll see “Christmas hamper basket” too. Both names mean the same thing: a container filled with themed food or small gifts for the holidays.

Happy Gifting!

One keeper per person and a handful of things they’ll actually eat, drink or use that week is plenty. Pick the theme that already matches how each person spends December, build it once, wrap it well, and watch the long list get shorter. I promise the ribbon hides a multitude of wobbles.