Christmas Gift Baskets 25 October 2018 at 4:59PM in Boost your income 3 replies 891 views

1980ND

With Christmas looming I am thinking of starting a little side hustle of Christmas Gift baskets.
I was wondering if anyone had tried this and whether it had been successful.

Also does anyone know if there are any rules/ laws about putting in things like chocolate or coffee. I am assuming as I am not producing the food I don't need a regulated kitchen but wondered where I stand on potentially reselling food products.

Browntoa

Saturated market , my local Facebook selling groups have 100's

[Deleted User]

1980ND wrote: »

With Christmas looming I am thinking of starting a little side hustle of Christmas Gift baskets.
I was wondering if anyone had tried this and whether it had been successful.

Also does anyone know if there are any rules/ laws about putting in things like chocolate or coffee. I am assuming as I am not producing the food I don't need a regulated kitchen but wondered where I stand on potentially reselling food products.

I'm not sure there are any regs nowadays regarding reselling food products like chocolates and coffee but you need to be aware of the tax situation for declaring the income you make.


I tried selling gift baskets a few years ago and found it totally not cost effective. I would imagine nowadays with the proliferation of Facebook groups that it would be even less so as Browntoa mentioned in the post above. Sorry to throw cold water on your plans as basically it's a good idea to assemble these baskets and I always enjoyed producing mine, sourcing unusual and interesting items to put in them and making them look really decorative.


Another issue is where/how you intend to sell them. If you are selling locally it isn't such a problem but if you live rurally like me and have to deliver it cuts into the profits. I charged a delivery fee but people don't want to pay much and I found I was barely breaking even on some deliveries. Likewise, using a courier has the same problem as the baskets are relatively heavy and people are unwilling to pay much for delivery.


I used to decorate my baskets with cellophane and bows and finding a way to transport them over long distances without them getting damaged or disarranged was a nightmare:(. People like to see them and carry them away upright to keep them pristine so selling face-to-face is best.


Do you plan to have a stall at a craft/Christmas Fair or produce a brochure? Maybe you plan to leave one as an example at a work or business location where people can see it and then place orders for you to fulfil and deliver to them. Do you intend to make several the same or do them 'bespoke'. I enjoyed making 'bespoke' ones but found sourcing items to include was time-consuming and by not being able to buy the contents of these individual baskets in bulk only added to the cost. There's only so much that buyers were prepared to pay:(


All in all I found it a fun thing to do and started out with such high expectations but I barely made anything out of it despite all the work involved. I didn't just do them for Christmas and found Mothers' day, Valentine's Day and such like were also good opportunities.


Good Luck:beer:

Rosiemurphy

I think Christmas fairs would be the best place to sell them. I think presentation is very important - nice ribbons etc to make them eye catching. Not sure about food products - I would think you would have to state if any of the products contained nuts