Gift Ideas for Everyone
November 20, 2015This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BIGSeason #BigLots
When it comes to buying gifts for the holidays, I don’t procrastinate. I’m definitely someone that truly enjoys shopping for the people in my life and I love doing it early on in the season! It’s actually one of my favorite parts of the holiday season: picking out the perfect present, wrapping it and then watching the recipient’s reaction as the gift is opened! Last week, I decided it was time to start my holiday shopping, so the first place I headed was Big Lots, because I knew I could find gifts (and gift wrapping supplies) for everyone on my list! I actually found amazing gifts there for my kids, my mom, the kids’ teachers, and more- all in one quick trip to a single store! I’m excited to share with you some great gifts I found at Big Lots, along with some festive gift wrapping ideas. Oh, and I’ll also walk you through how I put together a personalized gift basket for my mom using products found at Big Lots!
Finding Holiday Gifts for Everyone at Big Lots
Gift Ideas for Everyone
Once I got to Big Lots, I headed straight to the gift wrapping section of the store. They had an incredible selection of wrapping papers, gift bags, and ribbons! It was hard to narrow down the gorgeous choices to just a few items. I got this stunning black & gold reindeer wrapping paper, some festive gift bags, two different types of burlap ribbon, pretty gift tags and some red reindeer head ornaments. Keep reading to see what I do with the ornaments- hint: they’re not going on the tree!
Gift wrapping supplies
By the way, shopping at Big Lots is always a pleasure, between the friendly & helpful employees and the great selection of quality products! While I was at Big Lots, I figured I would also swing by the toy section. I needed to get some gifts for my daughters and I know that Big Lots has quite an impressive array of toy gifts! Indeed, there were art sets, figurines, play sets, building sets, stuffed animals … so many options! My four year old is pretty enamored with the Disney Princesses these days and she’s also quite smitten with doing art work, so I got her a Disney Princess Art Set. Perfect! I know she’ll just love it! My two year old is currently into imaginative play with toy food. She regularly goes to her play kitchen and asks us whether we want “tea or coffee” and she will then proceed to hand us an imaginary cup filled with our beverage of choice! So when I came across this 27 piece play dish set at Big Lots, I just knew it would be well-received by her! Now she can have all the plates & cups her little heart desires to prepare all of our imaginary food! I also picked up an ice cream scoops play set, too, since both of my girls love ice cream! Let me just say that we got such great value on our toys from Big Lots. Please keep in mind that styles and assortment vary by store.
Toys for my daughters
Now that both of my girls are in preschool a few days a week, I have some teachers to think about during the holiday season. I love being able to get them something thoughtful and sweet to thank them for all that they do with our kids every day! While browsing the gift section of the store, I came across these Blonde Brownie Mixes in Mason Jars! How cute are these?! I love that they’re totally festive and very affordable. I picked up several of these for the different teachers! All these products from Big Lots are of great quality and are offered at exceptional values! Another reason I love shopping at Big Lots is that regardless of which department I’m in, the employees are so friendly and helpful, always asking me if I need assistance.
Perfect gift for teachers
Since I absolutely love making a personalized gift basket for my mom every year, I decided to gather all my supplies for the gift basket while I was in the store. From personal care to home decor to snacks, there are so many departments within Big Lots with great products, so it’s the perfect store to find supplies for my gift basket! To create the “basket” portion, instead of using a typical basket, I grabbed a coffee pod bouquet. It’s intended to help organize and store coffee pods. And I’m sure my mom will use it for that purpose once she has it. However, I love that if you flip it over, it can actually serve as a basket that can be filled up with all sorts of goodies, like this set of festive dish towels to go along with all the baking she loves to do this time of year!
Gift Basket Idea
Since my mom loves fancy jams & jellies, I picked up this delicious-sounding Forest Fruit Jam and a bar of chocolate. Walking down the food & drink aisles of Big Lots is always a treat, because I always find delicious and unique snacks to try!
Jam & Chocolate from Big Lots
Since every girl likes to pamper herself from time to time, I also threw in this faux sea sponge and cranberry orange candle! Let me just say that this candle smells AMAZING!
Candle & Sponge from Big Lots
Since I know my mom loves coffee, I wanted to get her a fun mug to enjoy all her cups of joe in the mornings. This cozy mug with a sweater sleeve is just too cute! I found this in the Holiday Gifts section and I’ll definitely be throwing this into her gift basket as well. (And by the way, I picked up another one of these for myself!)
Coffee mug from Big Lots
Assembling the gift basket was really easy! I simply flipped the coffee pod bouquet over, filled it up with all the goodies I bought from big Lots and wrapped it in some cellophane! I also added a red ribbon and some faux red berries as a decoration! Easy peasy!
Gift Basket Tutorial
Gift Basket Tutorial
Gift Basket Tutorial
It was so convenient being able to buy all these products at Big Lots to assemble this personalized and fun gift basket!
After assembling the gift basket for my mom, I set out to wrap those toys for my children. Remember that gorgeous black & gold reindeer wrapping paper? I used that to wrap the toys! Oh, and do you remember those gift wrap tags I bought? They’re amazing! They came in a little swatch booklet (something I’ve never seen before)! How smart is that?! It’s so easy to flip through and find the perfect tag for each gift!
Gift wrapping accessories
For one of the toys, I simple wrapped the toy in that black & gold wrapping paper and then wrapped the wide burlap ribbon across only one side. I then adhered one of those red reindeer heads to the center of the gift using some double-sided tape. I also topped it with one of those pretty tags from the gift tag swatch. How stunning does this present look? And it was so easy! I love that at Big Lots, I don’t have to sacrifice quality for price.
Gift wrapping technique
For another toy, I decided to make my own fan bow using the narrower burlap ribbon from Big Lots. To decorate the gift, I wrapped the wide ribbon around the gift in both directions, while making the ribbons overlap off-center (see the picture below). To make the fan bow, I simply cut a long strip (~25″) of the narrow ribbon and folded it back and forth to form the proper fan shape. I secured it with some tape to the spot on the gift where the ribbons intersected. So simple! And totally festive! I love that I can get all my gifting accessories at Big Lots: the toys, the gift wrap, the ribbons,… everything!
Gift wrapping technique
To stay updated on the latest news from Big Lots, be sure to follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.
And head to your closest Big Lots store to find all the gifts & gifting accessories you’ll need this holiday season! Head to Big Lots first before any other retailer, because it’s a single store that carries all the gifting items you will need! All at a great value and at a great quality! I always enjoy my shopping trips to Big Lots!
Finding Gifts for Everyone at Big Lots
Now, learn more about Big Lots here, and tell me: what are your tips to dress up gifts during the holiday season?
I love shopping at Big Lots, too. I always find unique gifts and I could spend hours browsing in the grocery section.
I know, right? The grocery section is really a lot of fun. I always leave with unique items that I’m very excited about!
I too love the seasonal shopping for my nearest and dearest. I wish we had these stores here in Greece, they look amazing. I also love your gift basket idea, I know a few people who will be receiving one og those from me this year!
Yes, gift baskets are a fabulous way to personalize gifts for friends and family!
I’ve never seen a coffee pod holder like that, I love it! I’ve got a single serve coffee maker on my Christmas list, so I’ll look for a holder like that for all of my new coffee pods 🙂
It’s fabulous! That was such a great find at Big Lots!
I always forget about Big Lots and then when I go, I get so much stuff. Last time I went I filled my cart.
I also wind up filling my cart every time! 🙂
I think it gets stressful when you wait last minute, or you just don’t have enoug money to spend on people without it being a hardship. BigLots is great in that aspect. You can find very affordable gifts there.
I’m a book and picture frame or photo album person. I’m not so sure about now, since people can print digital albums… I’ll probably look around to see if book stores have any sales or if there’s a bunch of sweets someone really likes for the holidays.. The ribbon you posted is so pretty. I think my favorite part of gift giving is wrapping them 🙂
We do not have big lots in the UK (i dont think) but I am loving that you were able to pick all your gifts for family/friends there. I am bad at picking up gifts so will take a leaf from your book.
Big Lots does have some really great deals and they do have something for everyone there too. I love the idea of using the coffee pod holder for the basket which looks amazing. The bows look great too. Thanks for sharing the ideas.
I love Big Lots. Their prices are great and you really can find something for everyone there!
I love shopping at Big Lots–my favorite thing to buy there, during the holidays, is wrapping paper—I love beautiful wrapping paper! I always buy lots and lots of it! 🙂
They definitely have a fabulous selection of gift wrapping supplies!!
They definitely have a fabulous selection of gorgeous gift wrapping supplies!!
Love Big Lots. They have everything you need and at great prices. They are perfect for holidays, furniture and so much more. They are on my list for sure this holiday season
I just realized I need to pick up a few more gifts… for my husband and my kids. I will be heading back to Big Lots this week!
Doggone I was just there at our Big Lots this past week and didn’t get to look at any of those precious prizes you found. Did find a cowhide body pillow would be very handy after my shoulder replacement surgery on 12/7. It’s very painful to lie down after that kind of surgery. Had experience with that after my arm broken few years ago. Slept on wedge and body pillow for long time. Makes me wish I’d gotten that body pillow when I was there, was so cute. Did find set of plaid fleece sheets for our bed at great price.
Have always loved going to Big lots myself. We used to live fairly close to our local store and could spend hours in that place. Now they have nice furniture and home accessories I love also. Gimme one of everything. We bought my buffet at our store this past summer.
Great post with wonderful ideas. Have wonderful Thanksgiving.
I love the furniture and home accessories section too. Best of luck with your upcoming surgery and have a great Thanksgiving!
Christmas is just around the corner. I got a lot of gift ideas here. These are excellent selections.
when i lived in michigan i used to shop at big lots all the time. i really need to start back now that i am in florida and i love that store.
I haven’t been to Big Lots in forever since it’s on the other side of town, but I do love these things. That wire basket you used for the gift basket looks like something I’d love to have.
I’m always going to Big Lots for things throughout the year, but especially to find super cute gifts during the holiday shopping season.
The coffee mug with the sweater sleeve is SO cute!. I will be heading to Big Lots to see if I can find one.
The store I visited had plenty of them! Good luck! Hope you find one at your Big Lots!
These are some great ideas…and I love the gift wrapping (I don’t put any effort into wrapping gifts, lol!)
Love that coffee pod basket idea! It is one that I will have to remember because I love doing personalized baskets as well.
Yes it winds up serving two purposes! I love a good multi-tasking product! 🙂
This is awesome list of gifts that everyone would love. I love that chocolate! My niece would love the deluxe art set. 😀