How to Make DIY Home Made Gift Baskets For Children's Birthdays With Items From the Dollar Store

It’s birthday time and you’re looking for an interesting, unique, yet inexpensive way to give a gift that kids will love, but with a price you can afford. Look no further than your nearest Dollar Store!

Gift items can be anything. We think kids and toys, but personal items, food, stationery, books, candy and food items are great fillers for the baskets. Use your imagination as you walk the aisles to see opportunities that may not have occurred to you.

To really personalize the basket, think about the child you are buying for - favorite color(s), what they like to do, favorite snacks and foods, etc. This will help you to create a special basket which will delight the birthday boy or girl.

Kids like the unexpected such as bright colored socks, coloring books, puzzles, headbands, nail polish, lip gloss, journals, picture frames, etc. The age of the child will help determine what kinds of gifts to buy. Dollar Stores has items for every age group from infants on up.

If you are buying for children 3 and under, keep in mind choking hazards and items that are safe for young children. Board books or read aloud books, sippy cups, dress up items, socks, hats, and personal items such as children's toothbrushes or hair brushes would be good choices.

It’s really very easy to create a birthday basket with an array of gifts, each costing only a dollar! Here’s a look at a way that I created two birthday baskets for 11 year old twins (one boy, one girl).

At the Dollar Store, I purchased multi-colored tissue paper, 2 birthday balloons, 2 plastic bins, 2 stuffed animals, playing cards (2 in a pack - 1 for each basket), a decorative note pad, 2 birthday crowns, a comic book, hair bands, gloves (2 in pack - 1 for each basket), a sports ball, 2 spinning lollipops, 2 cans of silly string, 2 birthday cards ($.50/each), birthday horns (6 pack - 3 for each basket), 2 Jelly Belly lip balms, 2 hair brushes, 2 sets of pencils (12/package), mini composition notebooks (4 in pack - 2 in each basket) and assorted packages of candy and gum .

Each of these completed gift baskets cost under $20.00.

The Dollar Store offers a variety of baskets, boxes, decorative bags and bins. Any of these containers can be used to create the base of what you will fill with your gift items. The larger your container, the more items you’ll need to fill it. I chose plastic bins as these can be used later by the kids to hold a variety of things.

I put the bins in the shopping cart and began to search the aisles for gift items.. Each item I selected, I put in the bin to see how it would fit and how much more I wanted to add.

The dollar store where I regularly shop is called Dollar Tree. There is nothing in this store that is more than a dollar. Be aware that not all dollar stores are the same. Some have dollar items yet have other items that are higher in price.

It’s best to put something in the base of your container to help to lift your gift items up high. The idea is, not to just fill the basket, but to have the gifts stand out.

I used plastic bags in my example, but you can use a crumpled paper bag, a piece of folded cardboard, Styrofoam peanuts, or whatever you have on hand to build your base. Cover it with a sheet or two of tissue paper. Taller items go to the back, heavier items go towards the bottom and you continue to build your basket with tissue paper and smaller and lighter items.

Heavier items will sink towards the bottom of the basket and additional tissue paper will help lift it upwards to be seen. Not all of the gift items have to show completely, just a peak of them gives the hint that there are more gifts, which is inviting to the receiver of the basket.

Continue to layer various colored tissue paper under each gift item to help it stand out.

The finished baskets are fully loaded with all of the gifts and look to be overflowing with wonderful surprises.

For these baskets, I only used items that I purchased from Dollar Tree, but you can also add additional more expensive items, gift cards, or even add cash to the birthday card. I often put in cash for each birthday year. For instance, 11th birthday - $11.00. Kids are very proud of the new age they have reached and that dollar amount celebrates that milestone birthday.

Attaching a balloon to the top of the basket is the final touch. It should float just above the basket. Although the balloon is not necessary, children of all ages love balloons.

To really dress up the basket, ribbon or bows can be added as well. I opted for the balloon to be the decorative touch, but you can always add more.

Birthday baskets are easy to make by both adults and children. It's fun to layer surprise after surprise and create a gift that is unique and personalized for the birthday girl or boy.

If the gift is from your child, he or she might also enjoy selecting the gift items and then putting the basket together. It will make the gift giving even more meaningful to your child.