Baskets Galore Ireland

Hello to all our customers in Ireland. Merry Christmas. As you know our gift baskets and hampers are extremely distinctive. Its the combination of freshly baked items, salmon and hams which sets a Basketsgalore Hamper apart from any other hamper in the European market. So although it may sound terribly boring, we thought our customers would like to know shelf lives of some of the more perishable items. For Hampers being dispatched today with salmon, chicken or duck, the Best Before Dates are as follows. Remember these are the earliest dates. New stock is arriving constantly which will extend these lives by several days. Hampers with Organic Salmon 200g 31/12/2010 Hampers with Organic Salmon 500g 31/12/2010 Ummera Duck Breast 9/1/2010 Chicken Crown 3/1/2010 If your Hamper contains ham then the Best Before Date at earliest will be: Montelieri Ham 120g 9/2/2010 Brady Family Traditional Glazed 28/2/2010 Brady Family 1/2kg Unboned Carving Ham 31/12/2010 Brady Family Traditional Sliced Ham...

All I Want For Christmas Is..... At BasketsGalore we run a monthly competition to win a fantastic free gift basket! All you have to do to enter is "like" us on Facebook ! We then pick a number of fans at random & come up with an inventive way to pick the lucky winner. So far we have had a darts competition and a scary halloween draw of catching chocolate spiders and dunking for apples For the Christmas Competition we have decided to do things a little differently. This month, as well as being a fan, you simply have to write on our wall "All I want for Christmas is..." and include a link to your favourite BasketsGalore hamper or gift basket. It can be a Christmas hamper or some people are picking pamper gift baskets or all year round gifts As well as including the link to your favourite gift hamper, remember to tell us why you deserve to win. Be creative, as our favourite post(s)/comment(s) will win their chosen gift! We will announce the lucky winner(s) in m...

Ho ho ho, it is definitely that time of year when our annual newsletter goes out! Yes only 36 days til Christmas now. We sent an email update last week to let all our lovely customers know our 2010 Christmas gift baskets are available to order now! Just because you order now, doesn't mean your gift will be shipped now. You can pick the special Christmas delivery option & also a preferred delivery date using the calendar at checkout. We try to stick as closely as possible to your preferred date, but generally operate by delivery week in December. Wk 1 is the week beginning 29th November Wk 2 is the week beginning 6th December Wk 3 is the week beginning 13th December Wk 4 is the week beginning 20th December So if you pick a preferred date of 9th December, we will aim to dispatch your hamper during Week 2 (6th-10th Dec). We hope you understand with SO many hampers being dispatched during a short period of time it can be difficult to deliver on exact dates at this time of year. G...

Wa hahaha ha! Well it is nearly that scary time of year....Hallowe'en! We hope you all have your outfits picked for the weekend (31st October officially) We are all sure to see plenty of witches, vampires & zombies wandering the streets! To get in the mood, we've decided that any baskets being dispatched this Thursday & Friday can be Halloween themed with a scary chocolate spider or net of Halloween chocolates (pumpkins & eyeballs etc) See pictures below... We'll also include a red or orange-gold ribbon! Simply write SPOOKY WOOKY in the comments box when you order. We can add the chocolate to any existing basket you order or why not create your own special Halloween Gift Basket with chocolates, cake, apples, oranges, nuts, toffee sauce etc on www.createyourowngiftbasket.co.uk The BGie Team

I have just checked & it is only 81 days til Christmas!! Has anyone started their Christmas shopping yet? A few of our customers have, as our Christmas order file is starting to mount up! We have been busy working behind the scenes, since before the summer time, designing & photographing our Christmas hamper range . We hope you like the choice of Traditional Christmas hampers and our Gourmet Christmas hamper range with a more modern twist! It has been great fun taste-testing new products to include this year, including the new choice of fresh hams & freshly baked cakes and buns. As usual we like to think we have the best & biggest choice of Non-Alcoholic Christmas gift hampers around. The majority of our delicious food items are produced by local Irish Artisan producers, so you will notice these scattered throughout our Christmas food hampers . Since our original Christmas hamper selecion was finalised, we had a great idea for a new Christmas range! This exciting new...

BasketsGalore.ie has followed suit & has a brand new image! We hope you like the new clean look and new features; such as the larger drop down menu, and shop by price, category & bestselling facilities for each section. Prices are displayed in Euro & you can use Laser cards to purchase. Standard delivery to anywhere in Ireland & the UK is an amazing €4.99. This is for a recorded, courier delivery service. Please take a look at the site & let us know your thoughts. We love to hear feedback so we can continue to improve & offer a great shopping & gift experience! The BGie Team

A few of us in the office were away on my hen weekend recently & it inspired us to create a new range of hen night gifts . We had noticed people ordering pamper hampers or wine & chocolate gift baskets for hen night presents before, but until now we haven't had gifts designed especially for hen do's. Hen Night gifts are popular to send if you are unable to make the hen night, but still want to be a part of it & show you are thinking of them. They are also good to have as an arrival treat in your hotel room, apartment or B&B. Some companies that book hen activities or weekends, like to offer a Hen Gift Basket as an arrival gift. Our Hen Party Gift Baskets typically include some bubbly or wine cooler drinks, sweets, crisps, snacks, nuts & lots of chocolates to share! We have also included a few cheeky accessories for the blushing bride, such as 'Bride To Be' sashes & pink fluffy L Plates! So basically everything the hens need to get the party sta...

At BasketsGalore Ireland we like to create fruit gifts with a difference. Fruit gift baskets are popular presents, as they can be sent on a variety of occasions & to almost everybody. We also add a few extras to our fruit gifts, to make them that little bit more special than a standalone fruit basket. The most popular reason for sending a fruit basket is as a Get Well Soon gift, so we have created a special range of get-well fruit baskets & divided them into "for him" and "for her" sections. By adding things like magazines, books, puzzles & games to our get well fruit baskets, we think the patient or person who is unwell at home will appreciate having their mind taken off feeling poorly, as well as having juicy fruit to snack on. We can deliver to hospitals all over Ireland via courier, on a next day basis. Just remember to include a ward name or number if possible please, to help the hospital staff to pass the gift on more quickly. We also recently i...

Best Hamper in Ireland Questions & Answers with Irish Basketsgalore. From time to time we see these frequent questions and answer sections on websites relating to some obscure facts, so this is are our responses to anybody asking the question online in all those internet forums regarding “Who Makes the Best Gift Hampers in Ireland?” Q. Where can I find the best hampers in Ireland? A. Basketsgalore.ie Q. Why do you say Basketsgalore.ie? A. Because I see what goes in them Q. So you work for the company? A Yes Q. Doesn’t that make you biased? A. Very likely Q. So can you recommend anybody else? A. No Q. Why not? A. Because I see on their websites what they are offering and they aren’t as good as Basketsgalore.ie Q. But you are biased? A. Maybe yes, but being so does not make it any less true. So there you have it. Completely biased, but completely true answer to the question of where you can find the best hampers in Ireland and always get an honest answer to your questions. Basket...

Customer Announcement You may be wondering why the next available delivery date is showing as Wednesday 14th July. This is because BasketsGalore is expanding its office space and refurbishing the packaging & dispatch area, so unfortunately will be unable to process orders on Monday 12th July. We will be dispatching orders to Ireland & the UK again on Tuesday 13th July. So if you order any time on Saturday, Sunday or Monday we will dispatch your gift on Tuesday or Wednesday on a 24 hour delivery basis. We made the decision to carry out any works over this weekend, as it also coincides with the 12th July Public holiday. If you are happy for us to dispatch your Gift Basket on Tuesday 13th or Wednesday 14th July, we would like to thank you by offering the following treats: 1) An Upgrade to the Express Delivery service at no extra cost 2) 2 x Complimentary bars of Chocolate Garden Handmade Luxury Chocolate to be included in your gift basket This applies to ALL GIFT BASKETS ordere...

At BasketsGalore we can deliver gift baskets to Ireland & Northern Ireland on a next day basis. We have trialled various Irish delivery couriers over the years and are very happy with our current supplier, Nightline Couriers. Nightline offer an excellent next day delivery service & their customer service is really the best we have experienced. They have major depots in Belfast, Dublin, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Galway & Sligo & have a vast network of drivers. Some addresses in Ireland can be difficult to locate, as they don't have a postcode system (except for Dublin). With this in mind Nightline ask for a local contact number for the recipient to be supplied. This means that if they are having difficulty locating the address, they can telephone & ask for directions. Sometimes, if the address is particularly remote, the driver may telephone ahead to give the recipient advance notice. Although with so many deliveries to do, this is not standard practice. Drivers...

The Story of the Traditional Christmas Hamper A man walks into the office and exclaims how unusual it is to see a “hamper company” busy when it isn’t Christmas time. “Yes, that’s because we’re not really a hamper company,” is our reply. “Don’t be silly,” he says, “you make hampers and so you must be a hamper company . If you’re not a hamper company, then what are you?” “We’re a Euro Style Gift Basket Company.” He laughs and says that there is no difference. A hamper here is referred to as a gift basket in America. It’s still the same thing. "Is it?", we say: “A hamper in Ireland was traditionally a charitable gift given at Christmas time and tended to be a variety of groceries, which were packed in a box and filled with foods, of quite distinctly average taste. A Gift Basket accentuates Gourmet food products and places significant emphasis on the presentation, packaging and service.” “I did hampers a couple of years ago he tells me. We were asked by one of the local ba...

For those of you who can’t decide - we thought it might be helpful to list the most popular gift baskets that have been ordered so far for Father’s Day 2010. 1. Cheese & Ale Gift Basket - €48.74 2. Wine & Cheese Choice Hamper - €49.99 3. Kilkenny Hamper - €62.49 4. Great Taste Award Titanium - €81.24 5. Create Your Own Hamper – pick and choose your Dad’s favourite food and drink to design the perfect Fathers Day hamper. Available on our .co.uk site (NB* prices will be displayed in GBP.) All orders placed before 4pm on 17th June will arrive in time for Fathers day in Ireland on Friday 18th June. Please bear in mind that courier companies do not deliver at weekends, so Friday is the last delivery date before Father’s day on Sunday. Any orders received after 4pm on Thursday will arrive on the next available date, Monday 21st June. But if we can physically get it to him before Sunday - we will do everything we can! Happy Shopping!

Fathers Day in Ireland is this Sunday 20th June 2010. So there aren’t many days left to organise a gift for the most important - Ireland based - man in your life! Delivery companies don’t operate at weekends here in Ireland, so the last available delivery date is actually Friday 18th June. So if you want to send your Dad a Fathers Day gift in time for Sunday - please hurry. We’ve been in the gift delivery business for a decade now, so we’re well aware how last minute gift buying can be (we’re guilty of it too!). We’ll be dispatching all orders received before 4pm on Thursday 17th June on the overnight express delivery service to all parts of Ireland. If your order comes in after 4pm, and Rob (the lovely Irish courier driver) hasn’t collected from us yet, we will do everything we can to get your gift sent out with him by bribing him with chocolate. After all he’s a Father too! If we receive your order on Friday up until 5pm, and the delivery address is within driving distance, a m...

Graduation Gifts delivered to Ireland The average age of people working in Basketsgalore is 25/26 years of age. Even the inclusion of Mother only pushes the average up to 29, so we are all aware that June and July is not only Fathers Day on 20 June, it is Graduation Season. We can obviously remember our recent and some not so recent graduations. Since we are all university graduates, we asked around the company to surreptitiously discover what they considered to be the worst gifts they have received. Then amalgamated their answers to identify the 10 most unpopular gifts that a graduating person would least like to receive. Top 10 worst Gifts ever received by Staff Members. 1) Offer of a week’s holiday at somebody’s apartment in Benalmadena. (Still under construction and recently featured in Homes From Hell) 2) Watches and jewellery for men. The more expensive the worse it is. Of all the boys in Basketsgalore nobody is wearing any jewellery of any description. Are we indicative o...

FREE CHOCOLATE IN YOUR HAMPER IF URUGUAY WIN In Ireland we have a slightly unusual promotional offer. We will be offering bonuses on the basis of the performance of those teams playing the French Team. So our Irish customers can avail of discounts and promotions throughout the World Cup according to how well those teams opposing France do in Group A. First game is tonight between Uruguay and France. If Uruguay win then all Gift Baskets bought by Irish shoppers will include a FREE Bar of Wicklow Fine Foods Fruit and Nut Chocolate, 120g. This Chocolate Bar will be included with every gift basket until France’s next World Cup Match, when a new promotion will be revealed. In the event that France lose as a result of a blatant handball, then Basketsgalore will send all gift baskets ordered by Irish customers for FREE. So if Diego Forlan or one of his compatriots juggles with the ball before scoring against France, then Basketsgalore will refund all gift basket orders up to the value of ...

Father's Day Gifts Ireland Last week would have been our Dad's 60th Birthday. It was always quite an awkward time of year as you had to think of 2 gift ideas for him within quite a short period of time. Also the difference between his Birthday and Father's Day was just long enough to make it impossible to double up. Its always the complaint of people who's Birthday falls within a few days of Christmas time that they receive only one gift which is usually dubbed a part Birthday/part Christmas gift. However, doubling up can be a useful way of stretching the budget so that more expensive gift ideas can be considered. Looking back Father's Day always seemed to be such an awkward gift occasion. Inevitably it would be promoted in the shops and you would attempt to obtain a personal gift pertaining to your father's interests. Like a lot of men his main loves were football, in his case Tottenham Hotspur, his car and his holidays. In those days the shopping was rath...

Efficiency of Gift Basket Operations. Basketsgalore will be investing once more in its infrastructure this summer in order to further drive down the cost of providing gift baskets and hampers throughout the all of Ireland. Even now it appears that it is better value for gift basket and hamper consumers to order their gift from us in Ireland and then pay the shipping to Western European countries rather than use a company based on the European Mainland. In Ireland, Basketsgalore is determined to continue to extract efficiencies of operation, which we simply have to do in order to compete with large scale British companies in the intensely competitive UK market. So we are designing our own bespoke operational processing floor, which will enable the company to assemble your gift baskets quicker and even better. The layout will resemble that of a large hotel kitchen with multiple stainless steel work services and catering bench fridges. We'll also be operating a just in time work pr...

Gift Salmon Packs delivered to Ireland We sell the best salmon in our gift baskets. It won the 2005 Gold Medal in the Great Taste Awards and you really can tell the difference. It is produced in County Cork by Ummera Products, who starting smoking fish in Ireland 10 years ago. It is a much stronger texture than any other salmon we have ever tasted, which is presumably why it won the Gold Medal. Basketsgalore sells Ummera's Salmon in 200g packs as the 100g is rarely enough, once you have tasted that first bite. We're not selling salmon as a nice idea or gimmick, we're selling it because it is a simply astonishing product, which we want our customers to enjoy. This salmon tastes so good that when you start eating it, you can pretty much guarantee that the extra 100g is worth the extra money. Yesterday one of our American customers created an Irish themed gift hamper for their friend to Ireland's neighbouring island and it contained salmon. Two days later they ordere...

Cheesey Gifts delivered in Ireland, Basketsgalore Ireland has introduced the fabulous selection pack of Fivemiletown Creamery Cheeses from County Tyrone, which were hitherto only available at Christmas Time. Within every pack there is 150g of each type of Fivemiletown's range of cheese Ballyblue, Ballybrie and a smoked Oakwood. Complimenting the selection is an O'Reilly's 90g portion of Goats Cheese. Basketsgalore has included this new pack in a range of our new Spring Gift Baskets and Hampers which you can see at: http://www.basketsgalore.ie/food-hampers/wine-cheese-hampers.html What we particularly like about this packaging is that it is of gift standard quality and you can see that a lot of time and effort has gone into making it a high quality professional design. We've asked Fivemiletown Creamery to send them to us throughout the year, so that our customers in Ireland can take advantage of what we think is a truly wonderful selection of cheeses at an unbelievable...

Basketsgalore Christmas Dinner May 20th 2010 It’s Christmas Dinner at Basketsgalore this week. Obviously we are not able to have our party in December, so we wait until a quiet time of year and as is our usual fashion we try to achieve two goals with a single action. This year our Christmas Dinner is doubling up with a local business awards night which we were asked to enter by a couple of organisations. We didn’t enter originally as it simply wasn’t high enough on our list of daily priorities, but now that our table is booked, I am glad that we made a last minute submission. The reason is that I have only just realised that none of us said “Thank-You” to each other for our roles at Christmas time. Because we are a family business we just kind of take it for granted that everything will be done. I take for granted that my sisters will work until 12 o’clock at night to clear the backlog of orders, I take for granted that they will come in to work at weekends in November & Decembe...

Ireland Gift Basket News Update Basketsgalore's Irish blog primary role is to keep customers completely up to date with the status of the company’s capability to deliver its hampers and gift baskets in real time. At Christmas time this is particularly important when you want to have confidence that if you place an order a few days before Christmas that the hamper or gift will be dispatched in time. However, such data, whilst essential is not exactly exciting to read so to keep people interested, Basketsgalore will sprinkle between these vital posts some random blog posts pertaining to the company, its history and some advice on creating your own gift basket company or hampers, along with a few posts, which we hope will make you smile. We were Ireland's original exclusive gift basket company, but we have been competing in the UK market for the past few years, which is why our Irish customers will likely only know us if they have received one of our gift baskets. So in future a...

Almost 100% Irish Gift Baskets Basketsgalore.ie is the new Euro Zoned online gift hamper and basket website catering for all those occasions when you want to send a gift, but find it difficult to get there in person. The vast majority of our products are Irish. There are a few exceptions and the reason for this is that some things are not made in Ireland and that some products are so niche that they cannot be profitably produced in Ireland. Let's take for example our "A Taste of The Organic Hamper",pictured above, which you can find at: http://www.basketsgalore.ie/food-hampers/gourmet-gift-hampers.html Look at the contents of this gift basket. McCann’s Harvest Pure Apple & Pear Juice Wyndham Estate Shiraz Ummera Organic Smoked Salmon Brady Family Connemara Air Dried Ham Fivemiletown Oakwood Soft Smoked Cheese FiveMileTown Ballybrie Soft Brie Cheese Ditty’s Bakery Savoury Oatcakes Seriously Sticky Orange & Apple Chutney by Offbeat Olives et Al jar of Sunshine O...

Top Selling Irish Gifts Get Well Gift BattleJuice €43.69 Featuring 2 freshly pressed apple juice flavours from the Orchard County of Ireland along with 2 fresh West Tyrone creamy soft cheeses and tasty oatmeal biscuits from Ireland's Master Baker, which were described by a Sunday Times food critic as being the only oatcakes she has ever eaten, which didn't taste of cardboard. There's a gold taste award winning chutney from Down which is seriously sticky reeking of oranges and apples. There are some easy to eat melt in your mouth 100% butter shortbread and mouth filling crispy pitted olives. The basket is dressed with a little fruit, so that when it arrives, it is colourful, and thoughtful. We want the gift basket that you order to be so good that the name Basketsgalore is the first name you think of when you want to send a gift within Ireland. To view our range of get well gifts in a hamper or gift basket for delivery throughout every county in Ireland on a next day basis, ...

Chocolate Gifts in Ireland Basketsgalore customers may be interested in a few new additions to our range of gift baskets within Ireland. Taking our inspiration from the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland, which caused the closure of much of Ireland's airspace for several days, we have created several chocolatey gifts. This range of gifts all have the dark brown deep base basket, which contains chocolate brown paper to maintain the chocolate effect. The Gift leads with a really delicious Chocolate & Toffee Spread and a Chocolate Sauce. These products are new from a small producer in Ballyshiel, county Offaly and the smooth taste on the palate simply excites the taste buds. In keeping with the theme, freshly baked Rock Buns and all butter shortbread from county Antrim are included in case you want to cover them in chocolate. These biscuits are chunky and substantial, so you can really pile as much of the chocolate sauces as is possible onto them without fear of them breaking. Th...