Every gift basket designer needs to save money on baskets. There is one simple way to save money that many gift basket designers are not aware of – avoid buying single sized baskets with top handles!

Gift basket design magazines love to show gift baskets with top handles. And they certainly make beautiful designs. However, the top handles make baskets more expensive. Why? Because single size top handle baskets are more expensive to ship, both to the United States via the importer, then again to the gift basket designer. Since these baskets cannot nest, only a small number can fit in each box. Basically, you are paying to ship air. We ship our baskets all over the country and we have found that it is incredibly expensive to ship single size baskets with top handles since UPS and FEDEX have gone to charging by the cubic feet of the box instead of by the weight. At times we have found that the freight on some single sized top handle baskets is as much as 50% of the cost of the basket!

So, what can designers do? There are three options that not only save you money, but also, save you on storage space in your shop.

• Purchase baskets without a top handle. Choose baskets without handles or with side ear handles. Don’t feel you need to sacrifice style when choosing this option – there are many baskets available without top handles in beautiful rich finishes and designs
• Look for a unique type of gift basket with “drop down” handles. These handles fold down for shipping and allow the baskets to nest, but then can be pulled up when creating your designs to give you the look of the top handles, without the additional shipping cost.
• If your designs absolutely require top handles, buy nested sets of baskets. These save you money on shipping, as well as allow you to have a variety of sizes on hands for different design needs.