Gift baskets are a fun thing to put together: lots of little gifts all compiled into one.  But sometimes the container can cost as much as or more than the contents!  There are inexpensive options, like thrifted baskets, or repurposed containers with the text cleaned off, but you just might be able to use something you already have around the house to make a great container.  Check out the containers these amazing bloggers created!

Upcycled Kleenex Box

Tammy at Southern Flair Crafts used an empty tissue box as the base to create this fabulous container.  (I love this one.  It suits my personal aesthetic perfectly.)

With Duct Tape

I used a similar method here, but covered my box with decorative duct tape.

Game Board Upcycle

The folks at ReadyMade created a cool box out of an old game board.  Unfortunately, ReadyMade is defunct, and this page seems to be gone, too.  (I couldn’t even find it in the internet archives.  So you’ll have to just take a peek at the Pin where I first saw it, and take your inspiration from that.

New Use for Old Soda Bottles

Who says you have to use reed when weaving a basket?  These guys used old soda bottles for weaving.  (See pictures of the finished baskets here.)

Fabric-Covered Diaper Boxes

Lizzie at Monkey Business covered diaper boxes with fabric.  Diaper boxes are nice and sturdy, but you could certainly substitute a smaller box if that’s what you need.

Old News

I found this basket woven from old newspaper at Useful DIY.  It actually originated on this site; however, that site is in Russian which means not only are the instructions all in Russian (although the site has some gorgeous things — and the instructions for this particular project can be extrapolated from the pictures), I can’t search the site to find the correct page.  (If anyone is able to find the post; I’d love to link back to the original blog post.)

More Old News

Vanessa over at Nifty Thrifty Things created a completely different look with old newspapers.

Covered Basket

Maybe you don’t mind making a dollar store run, but the baskets available don’t quite meet your aesthetic standards.  So…start there and doll them up, like Miranda at Someday Crafts.

Fabric-Covered Bins

Another option for fabric-covered bins is this tutorial at Tales from a Cottage.

Plastic Bag Bowls

You’d never guess these are made from plastic bags!  Aren’t they pretty?!   Kudos to the ladies at SuperCyclers for coming up with this!

Worn-Out Blue Jeans

Karin & Freja made these great baskets out of old blue jeans.  The site is in Swedish; God bless them for being gracious and writing their instructions in English, too!  You’ll need to scroll to the bottom of their post to see the English translation.

Jute

These baskets are crocheted (I think) from jute twine.  They’re awesome!  The page is in German, though, so I can’t tell if there are instructions.  If not, they seem pretty straightforward: pick a stitch, and crochet in the round, increasing as necessary to form a flat circle the size of your base, then stop increasing but keep crocheting to form the sides.  I’m fairly “beginner” at crochet, but I think I could manage these.  (Mine would probably contain notable flaws, though!)

Wire

Okay, I would never have thought to make baskets out of wire from the hardware store, but these from Turnstyle Vogue are pretty cool!

Lacy!

Looking for something a bit more feminine — but still sturdy?  Try decoupaging lace onto existing containers, like Suzonne did over at Urban Comfort.

Your Turn

What kind of containers do you use or make?

All images belong to the owners of their respective blogs and are used with permission…um, obtained a whole YEAR ago, when I originally intended to write this post and did not get my act together in time for last Christmas.  Better late than never, right?

If your link is here but your picture is not, I did not have permission from you to use your image. If you’d like your image added, just let me know and I’ll be happy to update the post accordingly. 🙂