The
gift basket industry has exploded over the past few years and
continues
to be a consistent money maker for those involved in it. In many
ways,
it's the ideal business. You can run it
from the home. It's an
extremely
inexpensive business to start (you only need supplies and a
marketing
budget). The product is in demand (who
doesn't like getting
an
artistic basket with fresh fruit, candies, or cheeses?). Competition
isn't
much of a problem (you can easily set yourself off from the rest by
producing
specialized types of baskets). It's a
dynamic business that is
changing
and developing with the times.
One
of the newest developments is the CANDY FLOWER BASKET. This is
a
new type of gift basket that will definitely set you apart from your
competition. It's very artistic and creative, and pretty,
too! The Candy
Flower
Basket is easy to make, and will turn heads wherever it is given.
Here's
what you need for a Candy Flower Basket:
You'll need a
basket,
of course, preferably around the size of a medium to large flower
pot
(remember, we'll have "flowers" here). Next, a large piece of flower
arranging
or art styrofoam, large enough to fit in the bottom of the basket,
filling
it well and reaching up to around 3 inches below the lip of the
basket. Also, plenty of stiff, green wire used in
flower arranging; green
flower
tape; 2 1/2" green wood sticks,
pointed on one end, blunt on the
other; thin wire;
a good supply of different wrapped hard candies,
preferably
with colorful wrappers (yellow, orange, red, pink, and other
"flower"
colors are best); and, finally, a LOT of
bright, colorful
cellophane
sheets (green and red, especially). Many
of these supplies
can
be found at craft stores or flower arranging supply stores.
First,
we'll make our candy flowers. Cut the
stiff green wire into
1
foot lengths. Make around 15 for a
decent size basket. Now, sort your
candies
by wrapper color. You'll need 5 or 6
candies per wire. Take one
of
the candies and hold one twisted end of the wrapper against the end of
the
wire. Now, wrap the green floral tape
tightly around the wrapper and
wire
a few times. Don't tear the tape; once the candy is firmly attached
to
the wire, continue the tape down the wire and wrap another candy around
1
to 1 1/2 inches below the first, depending on how many candies you'll put
on
the wire. Continue this down the
wire. When you've wrapped 5 or 6 of
the
same candies on the top half of the wire, trail your tape off another
inch
or two on the wire. You've just made
your first candy flower! Set that
one
aside and start on the next one. Try to
have at least 4 different types
of
candies, so all the flowers won't be the same color.
Next,
wrap the styrofoam in green cellophane and put it into the
bottom
of the basket. Take your colored
cellophane sheets and cut around
fifty
6" x 10" rectangles. Don't
worry about making them perfectly sized.
Take
one of the rectangles and loosely fold it in half the short way (to
make
a 6" x 5" rectangle) and then in half the long way (to make a 3"
x 5"
rectangle). Don't crease the folds, and again, don't
worry about being
perfect
_ it'll look better if it's not. Insert
this rectangle into one
of
the open spaces closed point down (the point that would be the center
of
the rectangle, if it was unfolded. Do
this with 20 to 25 of the
rectangles,
until the open spaces are filled, though not tightly. Fluff
the
open corners of the rectangles out. Now,
insert your flowers into the
styrofoam. Space them out evenly, and put around four
inches of the wire
down
into the foam, so it's secure. Here's a
tip _ slightly curve the wire
and
insert it at a slight angle, so the flowers sit realistically. Real
flower
bouquets don't stand straight up.
Finally, take one of the remaining
cellophane
rectangles, and fold it in the same way as you did with the "fill-
in"
rectangles. Now, take one of the short
green sticks and a six inch
length
of the thin copper wire. Wrap the wire
three or four times around
the
blunt end of the stick, around 1/8" from the end. Put around 1/2" of
the
closed corner of the rectangle against the blunt end of the stick, and
wrap
the remaining wire tightly around it.
Insert this in the styrofoam,
in
between the flowers. Do this with the
remaining rectangles, cutting
more
if necessary to completely hide the styrofoam and fill out the basket.
When
done, fluff the open corners out. You now have a Candy Flower Basket!
The
best thing about this is the fact that it looks BETTER after the candy
is
removed! Put a note in with your basket
suggesting that people unwrap
only
the unattached end of the wrapper to remove a candy. The candies look
like
buds while they're wrapped; they look
like blooming flowers with the
candy
removed! Try it with one of your flowers
and you'll see!
Take
into account the cost of your supplies and your time when
pricing
your Candy Flower Basket. These can be a
bit time-consuming, but
you
can always make a large stock of flowers and fill-in "greenery" ahead
of
time while watching TV. Or, get some
friends involved. Baskets like
this
can easily be sold for $25 to $40, depending on the size of the basket,
with
only a few dollars worth of supplies.
Their uniqueness will definitely
be
an important selling point. Make a few
baskets of different sizes up,
for
sales examples.
Candy
Flower Baskets can be a great addition to your line, if you
already
produce gift baskets, or they can be a fantastic way to start out
in
this profitable business. And don't
think it's just for women; there
are
many men who are producing great gift baskets out there. Anyone,
young
or old, can produce these baskets and make massive profits...and have
a
lot of fun in the process!
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