Gift baskets are out of fashion! Or is it that they’re just boring? Actually, I hope the correct response is neither. I’m actually a gift food merchant. Kind of has a special ring to is, doesn’t it? Granted, it may be less significant that solving the global warming problem or removing a pesky mouse from under your kitchen cabinet, but it’s an honest way to pay for the roof over my family’s head.
I can read your mind: “I’ll bet he never has a problem deciding what to give during the holidays; year in and year out everybody on his list gets stuck with another gift basket.” How dare you think about me in that way! In fact, I face the same dilemmas that you face during any gift giving, decision making crisis.
I do not give food filled bundles of joy to my entire gift list. (Well, maybe most it.) However, even if I did, the choice would still not be easy. At my store, we offer scores of fruit baskets, gourmet meals, wine gift baskets and far more than that, even. (I know what you’re thinking right now, “Please, oh please, just tell me where this wonderful paradise is located so that I can go there to buy your most expensive offerings for everyone on my gift list!” Please be patient.)
Before you coerce me into giving away my store location, I want to share my own decision making strategy with you.
First, I decide on an appropriate category of gift. If Uncle Milton really has managed to eliminate his drinking problem after a decade of trying, I should not even consider the wine baskets. Instead, I think I’ll send him an assortment of gourmet cheeses and a fresh fruit basket.
Dear, dear Aunt Mildred is a great wine talker. I don’t think she truly enjoys sipping her wine, but she loves to try to impress everyone with what she knows about it. She loves to let everyone know the best vintage years, the kinds of grapes that are used in various blends and, most of all, how much she spent on the wine you just spilled all over her new carpeting ($95 a square yard). I’ll give her one of my better wine gift baskets, but I refuse to give her the best stuff. Sure, I get it wholesale, but I still have to pay for it!
My nephew, Alfred, recently married his long time girlfriend. To tell you the truth, even I agree that it’s about time. Alfred spent the last eight years trying to decide if she was worth the cost of a diamond ring. (I suspect that he eventually settled on crystal, which, considering Alfred, would be thought of as generous.) What he wants is a check. There’s no way that I’m satisfying that desire. His wife wouldn’t get a dime of it. Instead, they’re getting a gourmet meal from me. Actually two, of course. My thinking is that this is the only way to get his bride out of the kitchen. Alfred would never pay for a restaurant meal, so, in a sense, I’m sending the restaurant to them.
Second, I decide how much I’m willing to spend on these losers.
My grandson is getting the latest video game system. Let’s face it; he is truly special.
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