I bet you’ve been wondering where I’ve been for the past few months??? (well maybe you haven’t if you’re new to my blog pages), but anyway, for those of you who have been wondering, I’ve been very, very busy.  Doing what?  Well first there was Christmas….unless you’re in the gifting industry there is no way for me to explain to you how truly busy we are during this time.  Lets just say that I’m glad to be getting more than 2 hours sleep a night again. 🙂   Then there was Valentine’s Day when I was lucky to have 4 hours sleep a night. 🙂  During this time, I was also quite busy adding our new website www.giftbasketscanada.com.

Our www.boodlesofbaskets.com site is quite large and includes links to our other websites www.boodlesofcookies.com, www.boodlesofcakes.com, www.boodlesoffudge.com, www.boodlesofpopcorn.com .  I have had a few requests to include everything on one site and since I own the domain name www.giftbasketscanada.com and I have soooo much free time on my hands, I decided to do just that.  Now all of our gift items are able to be viewed and ordered from this one site. You can order cookies, cakes, popcorn, fudge, candy bouquets, cookie bouquets, flowers and balloons without having to link to another site.  Of course, you are always welcome to continue to order from any of our websites listed above.  They are not going anywhere. 🙂

I must say that although it was a time consuming task, I did enjoy building the new site and now that it is done, I’m glad I did it!  My 12 year old daughter even designed my new logo!  Take a look when you have a minute.  I’d appreciate any feedback you might have.  Happy browsing.

See our Current Christmas Gift Baskets

Canadian holiday gift towers are a good choice when sending a Christmas gift basket to Ontario, Canada.  They ship well, look beautiful  and house delicious treats…what more can you ask for.  Our three tier gift towers Warmest Wishes, Tis the Season and Pretty Poinsettias are all very popular.  We always like to carry some of these three tier design gift boxes and no matter how many we create, they always seem to sell out every year!  I can understand why. The boxes are truly beautiful!  I have had customers stack them up beside their fireplace as a Christmas accent piece.  Others have placed them on a side table and used them to hold everything from Christmas cards to potpourri.  I had one customer utilize them when throwing a holiday party.  She used the largest gift box to hold all of her guests’ car keys.  At the end of the evening they were given either their car keys or a  ride home if they had had too much to drink during the evening.  It was a great non-confrontational way to keep her friends safe.  I enjoy hearing all the creative ways our customers have used these gift boxes to build memories.  There is no plan to discontinue these beautiful gifts anytime soon, so I look forward to many more stories about them.

See our Current Christmas Gift Baskets

Sending Christmas gift baskets to Canada doesn’t have to be all serious.  Why not send something fun and different!  Cherylann and her elves like to create original gifts in original containers. We understand that sometimes you need something more traditional, but when the opportunity arises, why not send something truly original.  How about our Gingerbread House  or our Santa’s Drawers?  Yes you’ve heard it right folks, we, at Boodles of Baskets, have commandeered Santa’s pants and filled them with delectable treats and Santa couldn’t be happier!  Although these gifts seem to be geared more to children, it is in fact quite the opposite.  These items, and many just like them are often sent to offices and customers.  They are different and unique.  Thus, they stand out more than your everyday basket would.  If you received some delicious treats in a pair of Santa’s pants, wouldn’t you remember who sent them to you?  Wouldn’t you tell your friends and colleagues about the original gift item you received?  Wouldn’t you go home and share it with your family?  And then what do you think your friends, colleagues and family will do?  They will pass on the story to others.  The Gingerbread House is another unique memorable item that is offered by Boodles.  It is actually a gift box with removable lid.  It is so beautifully designed that we’re sure the recipients will find other uses for this container once the gifts are gone.  They could use it to hold Christmas cards, Christmas trinkets or even more candy and treats.  The idea of sending a whimsical gift for Christmas might not always be the right choice, but when the opportunity arises, we encourage you to seize it and send a fun gift for Christmas to your favourite someone.

Boodles of Baskets  understands that, sometimes, you need an inexpensive gift basket that will still impress.  Spending lots of money on a gift basket is not just in the budget…but you still need something!  That is why we like to create such items as our Dippin is Chillin.  Let me take a moment to tell you about this unique gift.  This ceramic base is actually a dip holder.  The snowman’s head is a spreader knife…..isn’t it just too cute.  But it gets better, because we add some delicious gourmet treats that the recipient can enjoy while they’re making a dip to fill it!  But it still gets better……..we do all that for under $30.  Whohoo!  Whether you need a hostess gift, a teacher’s gift or even a secret Santa, this gift would be a great choice and it won’t break your pocket book!  Give it to a friend, colleague or neighbor.  It is also a great gift if you are looking for something to donate at your next charity function.  There are just so many opportunities to utilize a gift like this.  You could even order a few to have on hand for those unexpected times when something comes up and you need a gift NOW! We know the recipient will enjoy receiving them as much as we enjoy designing and creating them!

Boodles of Baskets, also known as giftbasketscanada.com is proud to announce that we are entering into our 15th year of business.  Surprisingly, we have come to discover that 15 years in the gift basket industry is a very impressive number.  For reasons unknown, there appears to be a high turnover of businesses in this industry.  It could be, perhaps, due to the fact that it is quite labor intensive or perhaps it is one of those businesses that must be a passion.  For me that is certainly true.  After 15 years, I still LOVE coming to work every day.  I never know who will be placing an order or where they’ll be coming from.  We receive gift basket orders from as close as Toronto, Ontario to as far away as New Zealand, Australia, Denmark and Egypt, to name a few.  I can honestly say, that throughout the years, we have probably received orders from almost every country in the world!  The pleasure we receive from being able to deliver gift baskets on their behalf to family, friends and colleagues scattered throughout Canada and the Continental USA is truly an honour and priviledge.  I cannot perceive ever getting tired of doing it!  I KNOW I have at least another 15 years in me 🙂 and hopefully, by then, my children will be ready to take over the reigns (the business has been slowly ingraining itself in them since they were still in diapers!).  Whatever the future holds, I know I am truly blessed to be able to do something I LOVE everyday while helping my fellow human beings!

Long before the last day of school, I am busily planning Christmas.  Although this seems very unusual to those not in this industry, it makes perfect sense for Boodles of Baskets.  Gift shows begin showing their wares for the upcoming Christmas season in January and in order for us to be able to offer the newest, creative options for gift giving to our customers, we shop early.
Long before the last day of school, we are also planning our summer vacations.  We spend as much time as we can, camping with our family.  We have done this since our children were little.  Now that some of our children are older, they may not be able to attend all of our camping excursions, but they will almost always come up for a few days.
How are these two related, you might wonder?  Well, although the shopping is done early in the year, the brainstorming, is done while camping.  There is something about being away from phones, TV’s and computers that gets my juices flowing.  As I’ve said in earlier posts, some of our expansions have even been born while I have been up in the great Ontario north.  Getting away from the day to day operation (I have wonderful staff, which makes this all possible), is truly a benefit.  Sitting in the warm sun, looking at the wind dancing through huge pines and listening to the birds singing, calms, and energizes my soul.  Camping is my idea of a “Spa” vacation. It is amazing how much work and planning you can get done when you’re “not working”, but instead enjoying the laughter of children and the crackling of a blazing fire!