If you've ever seen someone in the Trader Joe's parking lot, assembling a gift basket on the hood of their car, it just might have been me on the way to a holiday party.  It's one of the easiest gifts to put together, it's affordable, and it's always happily received.  Who wouldn't love a basket filled with Trader Joe's gourmet goodies?  It's a perfect do-it-yourself holiday gift, client gift, hostess gift, or housewarming gift.

The great thing about giving a Trader Joe's gift basket is that you can customize it however you like.  Fill it with chocolate-themed products for your chocoholic friend, herbal teas and biscotti, or perhaps a margarita kit complete with pomegranate limeade, margarita mix, limes, tequila, and triple sec.  You can always add extras, for example a lime squeezer into the margarita basket or a pair of mugs into a basket filled with Sipping Chocolate or teas.  Visit our Amazon store to see some of our other must-have kitchen items. 

And of course, yes, our very favorite extra is to add one of our Trader Joe's cookbooks to the basket!  At one of our bookstore signings, a customer told me that she was giving Trader Joe's baskets as gifts this year - she was filling the basket with our cookbook and all the ingredients for one recipe, the "Peanutty Sesame Noodles" recipe.  Cute idea!  If you don't want to do a basket, another easy gift idea is to fold up a few colorful Trader Joe's reusable shopping bags (~ $1 each), put the cookbook on top, and tie it all together with a pretty ribbon.  Our cookbooks are available at bookstores everywhere (Barnes & Noble, Borders, independents) or on Amazon.

Here are some tips on making a fun, modern gift basket come together perfectly and easily. 

1.) Start with a simple basket sized for the amount of goodies you're planning on getting.  Some Trader Joe's stores carry gift baskets now and then.  For most of last year, my store carried nice square baskets in three sizes, making it very convenient to throw together a gift basket on the go.  You can also pick up inexpensive gift baskets at stores like Michael's or recycle baskets that you may have received in the past.
2.) Go to Trader Joe's and pick out your favorite goodies, themed or not.
3.) Add some crumpled kraft paper to the bottom of the basket to help lift up the items.  It will make the basket look fuller if the items are propped up and visible.  You can also add some raffia which will give it a nice look.
4.) Put in your items.  As a general rule, taller items go in the back and shorter items go in the front. 
5.) As an optional last step, use a cellophane bag to wrap it all up and add a bow if desired.



For the two gift baskets pictured here, the ingredients are listed below:

Asian Express:
"Cooking with All Things Trader Joe's" cookbook
Rice Sticks
Soyaki
Toasted Sesame Oil
Thai Red Curry Sauce
Lite Coconut Milk
Savory Thins Sesame Crackers
Thai Lime & Chili Cashews
Jasmine Pearls Green Tea
Cookie Thins: Triple Ginger

Il Italiano:
"Cooking with All Things Trader Joe's" cookbook
Organic Spaghetti Pasta
Organic Marinara Sauce
Pesto alla Genovese (Basil Pesto)
Mushroom & Herb Risotto
Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar
Italian Roast Coffee
Toscani Biscotti with Almonds
Bottle of wine

Want to see a quick demo on how it's all put together?  Wona recently did a TV segment on assembling gift baskets.  Take a look!   Just a note that we don't sell or ship the gift baskets ourselves - they're a do-it-yourself!