Gift Baskets Profits

One of the newest developments is the CANDY FLOWER BASKET. This new type of gift basket will definitely set you apart from your competition. It is very artistic and creative, and pretty, too! The Candy Flower Basket is easy to make, and will turn heads wherever it is given.

Here is what you need for a Candy Flower Basket: You will need a basket, of course, preferably around the size of a medium to large flowerpot (remember, we will have "flowers" here). Next, you need 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.

Consider also the following materials: 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 colourful wrappers (yellow, orange, red, pink, and other "flower" colours are best); and, finally, a LOT of bright, colourful cellophane sheets (green and red, especially).

You can find many of these supplies at craft stores or flower arranging supply stores.

First, we will 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 colour. You will 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. Do not 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.

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