Usually when I think about putting together a ‘food’ basket for Christmas I have adults in mind. But I was browsing through Homegoods yesterday and the “trick or treat” theme was sitting in my subconscious while all the while I was thinking about Christmas being less than 2 months away and how I’d better soon finish up my shopping.

Those two thoughts connected and I suddenly came up with the idea of doing food baskets for some of the kids on my list. You know, the kids who have “everything” and you never know what to get but you do need to give them some little thing?

This tin lunch bucket seemed the ideal “container” for a younger child. Other ideas have since come to mind like filling a sand pail or stocking. For a group of siblings I chose a larger storage basket, but a picnic basket could be fun too.

Here’s some of the goodies I thought would be great to put in a kid’s basket:

Pasta in fun shapes like reindeers or fun flavors like Chocolate

A gingerbread cookie mix (or gingerbread house kit)

Hot Chocolate mixes

Fun shaped & decorated cookies

Candy Canes and All-day Suckers

Candies and Chocolates

Animal Crackers

Popcorn or caramel corn

Potato Chips or cheesies

small bottles or cans of soda pop or juice

little boxes of cereal

The great thing about a food basket is that it can easily span several different ages with a little something for everyone. Even tweens or teens would be thrilled with some of their favorite snack foods.

What would you put in your gift “food” basket for kids? And what would you use for a basket?