The Dollar Store Diva: A Thank You Gift Basket

I recently gave a gift to a college student who had done an extraordinary job as an intern in my ESL class. I had purchased a gift card to Amazon, but I couldn’t bring myself to just hand her an envelope. The morning of her farewell party [If it weren’t for the last minute I’d never get anything done.] I ran downstairs to my basement to see what I had in my “dollar store stash”.

A small rectangular basket–a fantastic 69-cent-thrift-store find; a boy-was-I-thrilled-to-find-this-for-a-$1 spool of wide lavender fabric ribbon; some purple dollar-store curly ribbon; two cans of dee-licious Pirouline Rolled Wafers (a super-yummy dollar store treat); and some Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate.

I used the curly ribbon on the individual gifts, then I wrapped a purple napkin (left over from who-knows-what event) around each of the items. Finally I stood the gifts in the basket, poofed up the napkins, and slipped the gift card in the back.

It was all so quick and so very simple–a gathering of items I already had on hand. I wish I had taken a picture of Andi when I presented her the basket; pleasure was written all over her face even before she opened it. She almost hugged it.

Yes, the gift card would have been enough–but the presentation of a colorful, beribboned basket added to the joy of thanking a young woman for a job well done.

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For those of you who haven’t met her, the Dollar Store Diva happens to be my Mom who has a special power.  She can transform Dollar Store and other inexpensive finds into super fun gifts that would brighten anyone’s day!