A
New Type Of Gift Basket Guaranteed
To Bring Impressive Profits
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Based Business Ideas Part 3
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
Page 1
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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