gift basket idea

I don't know about your town / church / school / kid's sports team / [insert favorite charitable cause here], but in these parts the gift basket auction is where it's at in terms of fundraisers.

Last year I made two baskets (one for church, one for high school) complete with a hand-knit hat and fingerless mitt set, hot chocolate, tea and coffee fixings, insulated mugs, dunking cookies, etc. They were tepidly received, so to heck with that.

This year I decided to change my tack. The church got the hand-knit baby hat and a bunch of hand-made marshmallow blow guns, courtesy of my boys, plus the usual nut brittle, courtesy of my LSH.

The high school got this, which I am passing along to you as an idea for the easiest gift basket ever:

It consists of a Christmas photo holder (this one from Pier 1, which is chock-full of stuff that looks as if it came straight off the set of the recent Grinch movie), a glass charger from Michael's (on clearance) and nine scratch-off lottery tickets, plus a few tiny confetti presents. For value I put "Who knows? Could be $20,000!"

But I really spent under $50 -- less than last year -- then put it in a gift bag, taped it shut and bunged a bow on the front. Total assembly time: about twenty minutes, tops.

Hope this helps another harried fundraiser!