Creating the Perfect "Guest Basket"

10.23.12

The week that my friend Jody was due to come to stay with us for the weekend, I realized that I needed have a guest basket together for her stay. I had seen it a few times on a couple of blogs and thought it was the most brilliant idea ever. Once I set out to do it? It was surprisingly very easy and effortless. And after doing it just one time? I was instantaneously hooked. I will never have a guest again without making a basket. Mark my word.

You want to be in on a little secret? Most of this stuff? I already had in my house. The magazines. The kleenex. Extra toothbrush and toothpaste. Hand sanitizer. Waters. Snacks.

Even the actual guest basket. So? On a budget! You can do it!

Lucky for you {and me, for memory purposes}, I thought to take pictures prior to her coming. And now I can sit here and remember all the junk, I mean goodies I put in there.

Here is what I put in:

1. Toothbrush
2. Toothpaste
3. Lotion
4. Body Wash
5. Body Wash Scrub
6. Magazines
7. Mini-Kleenex
8. Cotton balls and ear swabs
9. Nailpolish
10. 2 waters
11. Snacks

Other things you can put in there:
1. Gum
2. Chocolate {I wish I had done that}
3. Little word puzzle book or something
4. Little wine bottles {I saw some at the store the other day for 1.00. They were the cutest thing ever, probably not very good, but definitely cute. And be sure its guest appropriate. Need I add that in there?}
5. A razor
6. Mini Shampoo/Razors
{Basically, anything that you can think of that you might forget when traveling/visiting a friend.}

Another thing I did with the gift basket was purchase her an individual towel and wash rag and placed them on the bed. Because that would be plain silly of me to try to stuff it in a basket.

Other advice? Be sure to have a scentsy running, a candle, or any other kind of room freshner. Nothing beats walking into a good somelling room.

Lastly, be sure to have some cute stationary around to write a little note to tape on there. Make it pretty with ribbon and such {I didn't quite have the time for that}. But a simple {cute} notepad added a nice finishing touch.

I'm no guest-basket-pro by any means, but I give myself a pat on the back for losing my gift basket V-card and doing a mighty good job at it.