So..What To Do With All Those Baskets..?

1) So a friend/business associate gave you a gift basket. *yayyy*

2) Or your spouse got a few (especially during festive seasons).

3) Or both of the above.

Then surely you would have some lovely/pretty/normal-looking baskets or boxes lying around. What to do with them? Sayang pulak nak biarkan berhabuk. Nanti semak pula mata memandang :P

OR you're like me - a fulltime home-based gift basket business owner.

*AZ Gift Baskets is just a small, cottage-industry-like business setup...there are many other big home-based gift basket businesses out there :) *

Due to space constraints, I don't keep a lot of stock at home. I do have some in my small office, a few on IKEA book racks at the kids' study corner, some in boxes on top of my wardrobe, some shrink-wrapped and arranged on top of my upper kitchen cabinets (macam hiasan jugak la lebih kurang).

Whichever your reasons are, allow me to share with you on what I do with some of those baskets....

This was from one of my Hari Raya 2006 creations. These bags were new that year. Pastu ada lebih la 2-3 kat rumah ni masa tu. I hang one bag at the kitchen door...mainly because this is the first door that will slam itself shut if there's strong wind coming from outside. Rumah ni ramai budak kecik so the bag is sort of like a door stopper. Betul, it works. Betul.

Moving on to baskets..

I think many of you have seen these white baskets on my website and also on AZGB's Facebook page. I use these a lot during Christmas, for baby gift baskets...also for baked goods and fresh flowers. Jadi bila ada lebih-lebih yang macam reject sikit (mungkin ada senget benget sikit), I letak kat bilik, macam yang ini jadi tempat letak sejadah.

What about those smaller boxes? Like doorgifts that you get..?

These rectangle wooden boxes were from our Ramadhan 2010 range. We put date candy in these. It was quite a favourite among corporate clients that time. A corporate client said that once he attended his customer's Raya open house...and saw this at one of the tables in the house, as deco. Jadi nya corporate client I tu pun sangat suka dan gembira sebab apa yang they all bagi, penerima guna semula.

And hey, I actually did the same thing too at home! Mix and match it with another 'leftover' wooden boxes, stuff that my husband got for Raya gifts, a vase that my MIL gave to me yearssss ago when I just got married etc etc...

Kotak kayu tu I gantung kat dinding, masa tu ada rajin sikit nak mengetuk paku sana sini.

Sometimes I buy some nice basket to do up as a sample...only to find out that it was sold out so quickly (at my supplier's), making it impossible for me to offer it to my potential customers. Bekas cantik sebiji dua sayang pulak nak simpan dalam kotak atas almari kan? So it became a place to store some coffee table books.

I probably have to rename those books as they are no longer on the coffee table. Not since 2009. Just so you'd know, the replacement that I used for that year's Hari Raya creation was like this:

(warna je lain, design lebih kurang sama)

My husband gets gift baskets too (and I don't get any..seriously). And yes, I use some of them untuk hias rumah jugak:

That basket on the floor is very nice but a bit narrow/slim jadi nak letak barang-barang besar agak tricky. The box on the big brown vase was actually what he got from a tailor - there's this tailor that many go to untuk tempah baju melayu hitam untuk istiadat tertentu..and the baju melayu along with his sampin songket, butang & tanjak came in that nice box. Now I use it to store extra artificial peonies from those Chinese New Year festive orders - jadi hiasan & tempat simpanan. '2 in 1'.

I even have baskets in my kitchen.

This type of basket has saved me countless times from going over to IKEA. "Going all the way there just to get a few (not even urgent) stuff? There must be some basket here that you can use, Millie" is what I tell myself every time I get wow-ed by pictures in their latest catalogue.

And sometimes I buy baskets/boxes/tins for some new creation that I had in mind...only to not even touch it later on. Mari kita salahkan faktor kesibukan dengan hal rumah, anak-anak dan sebagainya. *asik la kena 'excusitis'*

So I use them also. In this case, I asked Izzo to keep all his baking-related stuff in this nice cupcake tin I bought (but never got into my website):

So what do you think? Bakul/kotak/tin ni banyak jugak kegunaannya kan..? There are a lot more that I re-use, actually (tak boleh letak semua gambar kat sini nanti you guys tak larat nak tengok). "I sell gift baskets thus I must believe in them. I believe that it will serve a purpose long after the food contents in it are safely digested in the tummies of the gift recipient." Okay melalut.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I sell those baskets..so I must embrace it, must use it. So actually, that's what I think about when I choose a certain basket (or box or tin) for a certain creation. I always hope that the recipient could, and would, re-use it later on. Kalau tak fikir macam ni, adalah lebih baik I ambik approach tradisi orang Jepun - gifts are wrapped in Japanese cloth. *it's quite nice also, and there's a shop in KL specializing in this*

So the next time you or your spouse or your parents get a gift basket...think about what you can do with it later on. Hope this entry will help you with that :)