One of the best things to put in a gift basket is fruit – it’s sweet, it’s not too expensive, it’s a treat (especially if you get exotic fruits), and it somehow feels like it belongs in a basket, especially a wooden one. You can even keep the fruit in the basket until you eat it, and it makes a nice ornamental alternative to a fruit bowl.

For children, a basket full of pick ‘n’ mix sweets could be a real hit, especially if you know what their favourites are. This works especially well if you have quite a lot of children or you have relatives that do, as it can be a special present for all of them and they can share the sweets out between themselves.

Flowers are another great thing to put in a gift basket, especially ones you’ve grown and picked yourself, or found in the wild – it’s much more personal that going to a florist, and often prettier too.

Really, though, the best thing to do is to just find out what the person’s favourite thing is, and fill a giftbasket with that. If they’re a big fan of cheese, get a whole load of cheeses and fill a basket with them. If they like jam, do it with jam – and so on. This way the person will be flattered that it is a special basket just for them, and that you went to the time to put in that much thought and pick the things that went in it. And since it is a basketful of something they love, they are guaranteed to really enjoy their present.