Merry Christmas!

Has this ever happened to you? You have several people on your Christmas list that live far away. You’ve decided to send each of them a nice gift basket. So you wait until about two weeks before Christmas, visit your favourite website…….and they are practically SOLD OUT of EVERYTHING! What went wrong? You didn’t want it to arrive too early. You wanted to ensure the products were fresh. So you waited until what you felt was the right time to order. What happened!

Hopefully, the following suggestions will help make your next year’s ordering stress and hassle free.

When to order? Remember that most gift basket companies have corporate clients who contact them very early in the season and buy in large quantities. A gift basket retailer might think they’ve ordered the right amount of stock for a particular item only to have one client buy all their stock. (Great for the gift company, not so great for you if you had your eye on that item) So as soon as your favorite basket company has their offerings online, place your orders. Most websites have spots in their shopping cart where you can request a specific delivery date-we recommend you request no later than the 20th of December to allow for multiple attempts should the recipients not be home. Don’t worry they will build your order closer to your delivery date. Remember, Christmas stock is ordered early, but received just in time to build your Christmas designs. Shelf stable items do have a minimum shelf life of 6 months usually, so the recipients will have approximately 5 months to enjoy the bounty! Other more fragile items like cakes and fresh baked cookies are baked to order, so don’t worry about freshness.

When will I find discounts and sale items?.-Do not wait for sales! You will rarely, if ever see sales or discounts for individual orders from reputable gift basket companies. Why? Because they order just enough product to sell out based on past revenues. This is a good thing. Companies who know their market and order correctly are the ones you want to be doing business with. Their reordering cycle is frequent, ensuring fresh product for your baskets (you won’t be receiving left over Christmas items in your Valentine’s Day gift baskets either!)

Remember many gift baskets contain food items. Therefore it is imperative to use an experienced gift basket company to ensure your items are fresh, built to order and delivered on time. To ensure a stress free holiday, read the websites fine print regarding their delivery schedules. Some post disclaimers stating that although they may build and ship your gift baskets within 1-2 days during the regular season, when it comes to the busy holidays, we have heard of delays of up to a week!

Just Baskets has been in business for 7 years. We have never missed a deadline. Our processing times are simple. If you place your gift basket, candy bouquet, cookie bouquet or fudge order by 1pm EST Mon-Friday (excluding holidays) it is shipped the same day. Cookie, cake and popcorn orders received by 9pm EST Mon-Friday (excluding holidays) are shipped the next business day. After these cut off times, your order is processed the next business day. Shipping times are business days only and can be found on each order page. It’s that simple and we are always available by phone should you have any concerns about anything including ordering and delivery times.

I hope this has alleviated some of your concerns regarding Holiday gift basket ordering. If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me through our website,
www.justbaskets.ca