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Christmas Food Basket IdeasWhen Christmas is round the corner, many stores display well-designed gift baskets that delight gourmets. A food gift basket may contain just breakfast items, another may contain only chocolates, and a third one may be a collection of frozen foods for a seven course dinner. More innovative store owners design gluten free gift baskets and sugar free gift baskets to cater to various customer needs. You can buy any of these for gifting, but you can also design an equally beautiful one yourself. Designing one at home will work out cheaper than buying one from stores. Savory Christmas Treats Since you are likely to be familiar with the taste and health requirements of the gift recipient, design the food basket accordingly. If he or she is fond of savory snacks, fill the basket with wafers, muffins, crunchy bars, shortbread, crackers, and candied or salted nuts. Cheeses, salami, and sausages can also be a good choice. You can add some exotic Thai snacks or Mexican snacks to add variety and color to the platter. Holiday Sweets A basket full of brownies and cookies and chocolates will make the most visually appealing gift basket. Still, you should ideally not gift it to someone who is overweight or has diabetes. However, there is an abundance of sugar free chocolates and cookies on store shelves these days for filling a basket for a diabetic, and low fat products for designing one for someone who is overweight. Festive Foods Every festival has its special festive foods and Christmas has its many specialties since it is celebrated in many parts of the world. Plum pudding is a well-known Christmas specialty, and so is a chocolate Santa. Then there are gingerbread men, apple stuffed sausages, lamb kebabs, rice puddings, smoked salmon, and many other sweet and savory dishes. You can try some new recipes from the internet, or borrow a tested and proven recipe from a friend, and pep up your basket. Christmas Fruits A fruit basket will be a gift with minimum health risks and something that people of all ages will enjoy. Don’t fill the basket with fully ripe fruits which will have to be consumed within a day or two. Make sure that at least part of the basket consists of half-ripe fruits that will not have to be consumed in a hurry. You can use canned fruits also since it will stay longer and reduce waste. Christmas Drinks The spirit of Christmas is best awakened by the special drinks served on a Christmas day. Champagne and wine are ideal for a gift basket, and so are non-alcoholic beverages like fruit juices and packets of tea, coffee, and cocoa. Eggnog, mulled cider, hot spiced cider, and candy cane cocoa are some of the Christmas special drinks that you can consider adding to the collection. How to send a box of chocolates to someone you love To send a box of chocolates to someone you love is the best way of telling them that you love and care for them. Chocolates are a very intimate and personal gift and should not be given as a gift to a casual acquaintance; it might send them wrong signals. Then again, gifting chocolates is the finest way of letting your feelings known and if your loved one is far away from you then chocolates convey to them the message that you are missing them. Here are some things to keep in mind while sending chocolates as a gift to someone. A few suggestions - The best way to deliver the chocolates is to do it yourself. Not only does this ensure that the chocolates will reach soundly and safely but you also get to be thanked in person which is definitely preferable to being thanked long distance.
- If it is really not possible for you to deliver the gift yourself, have someone you trust do it on your behalf. It may be a friend or a colleague or even a delivery service.
- You could alternatively send a hamper in a basket. Apart from the chocolates this hamper can include a teddy bear, a singing card, and the latest in romantic fiction or some such treat.
- Such a basket hamper can be found in a traditional store as well as on the net. Do not make up your mind in a hurry, look at different options and surf the net using your preferred search engine. These days there are many online stores which not only sell the hamper but also make the delivery for a nominal extra charge.
Do's It is also a good idea to send a gift certificate instead. The recipient will be able to buy chocolates of his/ her own choice and you will be sure that the gift is appreciated.Don'ts Don't send chocolates to a person who you know suffers from different kinds of food allergies because many times the chocolates are filled with nuts or liqueur.
How to purchase holiday ham or turkey on the net To shop for holiday ham or turkey on the net can be fun and saves time and effort of getting into the kitchen and cooking it from scratch. Then again one can surf through various sites at one's own leisure and take advantage of the deals that are available online. There are innumerable sites that sell all kinds of ham and turkey on the net. Here are some guidelines to get over the initial inhibition and make some great purchases. Happy browsing. A few suggestions - First make a list of the guests whom you are expecting to be there for the Christmas meal. Remember one whole ham is enough for 25 to 28 people while one turkey serves 8 to 10 fair size portions.
- If you do not have any idea about which sites to visit to check for ham or turkey, simply key in the words smoked ham or turkey or something even more specific in any search engine. (Google and Yahoo are the most popular)
- Go through various sites and check their different items before finally making a decision. Most sites stock gourmet hams in styles like baked, glazed, smoked ham, honey ham and more.
- If you see something that you particularly like, enlarge the image to get the correct feel. Read all the product update charily and make a note of the weight of the product and its freshness. Compare different product sites in terms of prices, shipping costs and the mode of delivery.
- Add the product of your choice to the cart along with anything else that you fancy and total the amount after taking into account all the other expenses like taxes, handling and shipping.
- Place your order by clicking on the Submit button but remember to take into account all expenses when calculating the total.
Do's - Buy goods from only reputed sites so as to not be duped.
- Follow the directions of storing and serving accurately so as to avoid spoiling the taste or the product itself.
Don'ts Don't make up your mind in a hurry, go through different sites, many sites include shipping or some freebies in their offer.
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