DIY: Wedding Basket

Hello everyone!

Next month my cousin is getting married and I couldn't be happier for them. We jokingly hinted last summer "When is the ring coming?? and no joke, like a month later they were engaged. It's been incredible seeing their journey and I am so excited to attend their wedding. I also get a new family member, which is pretty cool. I love getting new family members.

Okay, so they didn't have a wedding registry because they already lived together and they didn't really need anything. Our plan was to get them monogrammed towels, but that plan did not work out. So, I went on Pinterest and started to search for wedding shower presents. I was finding a lot of bachelorette baskets and some bridal baskets, but nothing was good enough. If we were going to make a basket, we were going to do this right. So then I saw a bath time basket and I thought "Night before the wedding basket!" So I started to research those kinds and well, I fell short, so I made my own.

Essentially, a "Night Before The Wedding Basket" is a bunch of fun little things the bride and groom can use to relax and pamper themselves before the wedding. Of course, we made a His and Hers just incase they are following tradition of not seeing each other before the wedding.

Items used for Hers:

- A Basket, a box, a bag (whatever you want) and paper shreds for the bottom ( we got ours at Laura Secord, you could ask any store that makes baskets if they have any extra to give away)You can also get the paper at Michaels.

1) Handcare set from The Body Shop. We opted for the rose scented one because it's floral and calming, it also smells really nice, kind of like summer.

2) Lavender Soap. Lavender is known to calm and relax so obviously we opted for that scent, but you could put whatever you want.

3) Chocolate from Laura Secord. What is better than chocolate in a basket. They go hand in hand.

4) Champagne (or sparkling wine for those of you who are particular with brands) This is a celebration, so she should celebrate. If you're bride doesn't drink or doesn't enjoy champagne, you could always replace it for something else. In this case, we checked to see if she liked red or white and added some bubbles. We love Barefoot in this house, so we were sharing the Barefoot spirit.

5) Eye mask. We found these at Home Sense and I was thinking of putting them in, but only if we found them and we did, so in the basket they went. They need their beauty rest before the big day.

6) Tea. In this case, we got Mother's Little Helper from DavidsTea because honestly peppermint, chamomile, and lemongrass are so relaxing together.

7) A blue nail polish. Whether she wears this or not on the wedding day, something blue is required. In this case we went for this pretty light blue from O.P.I.

8) Candles. Nothing is more relaxing than a few candles burning. We found the candles at Home Sense and this one smelled so nice. We really thought she would love it.

9) A Mug for the tea. This one wasn't our top pick, but then we saw the inscription on the inside. "Hooray, it's today" couldn't have been any more perfect for her!

When we designed the brides basket, we really tried putting in things that she would find relaxing and that she would use. We didn't want to include things that she wasn't going to use or she would be like "why is this in here". A lot of thought went into this basket because we wanted her to feel pampered and just feeling fabulous before the wedding.

Items used for His:

- A Basket, a box, a bag (whatever you want) and paper shreds for the bottom ( we got ours at Laura Secord, you could ask any store that makes baskets if they have any extra to give away) You can also get the paper at Michaels.

1) Picaroons Beer. We find that a craft beer is so much nicer than a regular beer and it adds an extra little touch. In this case we got beer because that's what the groom drinks (or so we hope!) we got dooryard because its light and crisp and doesn't have a weird after taste. It's also local.

2) Tea. We got them the same tea because peppermint, chamomile, and lemongrass are so relaxing together!

3) Eye masks. Grooms need beauty sleep too!

4) Chocolate. Baskets and chocolate go hand in hand.

5) Face cream. Because if you need to moisturize whether you think you do or not. Also item 6 is shaving cream.

6) Shaving cream and a brush. So doing a brides basket is a little bit easier, but then we thought "What if we added shaving cream, so that the groom can pamper with nice products before the wedding".

7) Candle, with a man scent. You know, men can enjoy candles as well. This one had a strong musk scent so we thought it was appropriate.

8) A mug for tea. This one says "I love you to the moon and back" which we thought was appropriate for a wedding.

When we designed the grooms basket, we wanted to include products he was going to use. So initially we were just going to put shaving cream and razors, but we found a nicer product at The Body Shop. You'll notice that the baskets are very similar, but customized to fit the needs of the bride and groom.

Then it was time to decorate the baskets.

Ahh cellophane, a real nightmare if you don't know what you're doing with it.

Here's how we wrapped these: 1) Unroll the cellophane on the floor.

2) Place your basket on the right top corner and mark where the end of the basket on the cellophane. Cut down where the basket ended (like in the picture)

3) Place the small piece of cellophane over the larger piece horizontally. (Like the picture)

4) Wrap it up. At this point, you're going to want the ribbon to be ready and you may need someone to hold up the cellophane while you tie it up.

I added a lot of ribbon and all you have to do for that is wrap ribbon over ribbon and curl the ribbon.

I also made little hanging signs with His and Hers because I couldn't find any in store.

That's it! Just add a nice card and you can place it on the wedding shower gifts table with pride. Homemade gifts are the best.

Thanks for reading,

Samantha