People love Christmas gift baskets because they contain a dozen gifts instead of one, even if the gifts are usually cheaper than the expensive gift. If you want to gift a Christmas basket to all of your loved ones, it is usually more economical to make your own Christmas gift baskets rather than buying a pre-made one.

There are not many things that you will need for making a Christmas basket. All you need is an empty basket, colored paper or tissue, ribbon, and the gift items. Now, you can get all these at your local discount store, Michaels, or even your thrift shop.

When choosing a basket, you could select some red or green baskets or simply get some plain baskets that can be decorate with different colored ribbons, bows and tissue paper.

If you don't find a basket to your liking, you can use an empty bowl as an alternative, cups and other containers. Take a trip to the thrift store and see what kinds of differen containers you might find.

While you're shopping for your baskets,get some pretty Christmas themed ribbon. Greens, Reds, Silver and Gold and some nice tartans would jazz things up.

Make a list of all kinds of gift baskets you can/want to make. What kind of baskets are you going to put together? Will you be doing a unique basket for each recipient or doing similiar baskets for everyone? If the latter, then visit stores that sell products in bulk.

For example, if you buy a dozen soaps or two dozens of candles, you would be able to finish the gift shopping within a short time. Also look for stores that sell bundled products. I would head out to someplace like Bed, Bath and Beyond, Target and your local dollar store and start buying items in bulk -- just make sure to buy enough for each basket. If there's a Christmas Tree store in you area, that's also a great place to stock up on all kinds of neat, small and inexpensive gifts.

If you're doing unique baskets for each recipient, that will require a little more work, but it's not as hard as you might think. For example, if the gift recipient happens to be a pet lover, find out all the gifts, food items, crafts and cards that are especially themed for their favorite pet at one of the big box pet supply stores such as Petsmart or Petco.

Is your recipient a coffee lover? Splurge on beans at their favorite coffee shop, and then just head to your local supermaker for the rest of your items.

If you do a little research, I am sure you will be able to come up with a dozen gift items. In my opinion, it is far easier to come up with several small gift ideas than a large and expensive one. You can select one showpiece item for each basket, and then have that item accompanied by a variety of less expensive items in the same theme.

You are almost done! Now all you need to do is to make the basket itself! Place colored paper or tissue paper inside your basket, place the gift items inside it -- arranged attractively -- and tie it with your pretty ribbon.

If you have a large roll of cellophane, lay it out beneath your basket and then bring it all up to the top of your basket it and twist it together before tying your ribbon. That is all there to it!