How to Choose a Gift Basket Company in Canada: What to Ask Before You Order

If you are choosing a gift basket or hamper company in Canada, the choice is usually made on a photograph. The photograph is the least useful part. What decides whether the gift lands well is a handful of plain answers: who packs it, what is in it, how long it takes, what the card is, and what the total really costs. Here are the questions I would ask if I were buying, with my own answer to each. I pack and ship SwipeGifts boxes myself, so I have put where I am the wrong choice at the end.

Who packs it, and where?

Ask who packs the order and in which country. Some companies pack every order themselves. Others are a storefront that passes your order to a supplier, which can mean a longer wait and nobody who can tell you where your box is. If the answer is vague, treat that as an answer.

My answer: I pack every box by hand, in Canada, and I am the person who answers your email.

What will actually be in it?

A photograph is not a packing list. Ask whether the picture shows the real box, what happens when an item is out of stock, and whether the contents are listed. Some companies list every item and swap when they must. Others pack to a theme and let the contents change. Neither is wrong, but you should know which one you are buying before it goes to a client.

My answer: the contents change with the person and the season, and I do not list them. The photographs are boxes I have packed, not a promise of those exact things. If you need one particular item to be in the box, I am the wrong company. If you want a box packed for a person, tell me about them and I pack to it.

Can it include alcohol, flowers or fresh fruit?

Only if the company can deliver them properly. Fresh fruit and cut flowers are perishable and need fast delivery, and alcohol has to be sent within rules that differ from province to province, which is why many gift companies will not ship it across the country. Ask what they do when an address is in another province, and what happens if nobody is home to take it.

My answer: no alcohol, and I do not send fresh fruit, flowers or anything that has to be kept cold. A box goes anywhere in Canada.

How long does it take, and do they promise a date?

Be wary of a company that promises an exact arrival date across the whole country, and of one that will not tell you a range at all. Ask for the packing time and the transit time separately, what happens at Christmas, and whether there is a same-day option.

My answer: a box takes 1 to 7 days in transit, free anywhere in Canada. There is no same-day option, and I do not promise an exact date. A team order takes about a week to pack, so give a team order two weeks. The guide to shipping across Canada has the detail by province.

What is the card, and who writes it?

A printed card with a company name on it is one thing. A card written to the person is another. Ask whether the card is handwritten or printed, whether you choose the wording, and whether it can differ from one recipient to the next.

My answer: every card is handwritten, to the person by name, in your words or mine, and each can say something different.

What about a big order, or many addresses?

This is where gift companies differ most. Ask the largest order they take online, what happens above it, whether they ship to several addresses from one order, and whether they invoice or take a purchase order.

My answer: 5 to 25 boxes to one address you can order online with a card. More than that, or boxes to separate addresses, is a quote, and I invoice. Shipping is free either way.

What does it really cost?

Look past the headline price. Ask about shipping, tax, service charges and minimums, whether the price is the same at one box and at fifty, and what is not included.

My answer: Signature $119, Premier $189 and Luxury $299, before tax. Shipping and the card are included. The price is the same whether you send one box or twenty-five, and no price is shown on anything inside.

Can they put our logo on it?

Some can. Logo printing usually means a minimum order, a proof and a longer lead time, so ask all three if it matters to you. Some people want the opposite: a gift with no branding, so it reads as a gift and not as advertising.

My answer: no logo on the box or on the card. A printed insert with your wording is sometimes possible. There is a page on what I change and what I do not.

Can you see what you are buying first?

Ask for photographs of real boxes, and look for reviews you can check somewhere the company does not run. Ask whether they send samples.

My answer: there is a page of boxes I have packed that you can tilt and look closer at. I do not send samples. The nearest thing is the smallest team order, five boxes: see what comes back, then do the rest.

What if something goes wrong?

Before you order, read the returns terms and find out who you would write to. A company that makes its terms hard to find is telling you something.

My answer: all sales are final once an order is placed, because each box is packed to order. That is in my terms. If something goes wrong with yours, email me and I answer it myself.

If you are buying for a team or for clients, my corporate gifts guide covers budgets and timing, and the pages on employee gifts and client gifts show how I handle each.

Common questions