8 Weird Holiday Gift Baskets for 2023
Holiday gift baskets are a great way to give a gift to someone that has everything. They’re also great for someone that you don’t know too well and you’re not sure exactly what to give them. However, gift baskets with the usual fruits and sweet treats are a bit humdrum and can feel unthoughtful. Let us help you break out of the land of expected holiday gift baskets. We’ve curated a list of weird and sometimes even strange gift baskets to wow your giftee! Look below and see what curiosities we found. You definitely won’t be bored.
What are holiday gift baskets?
A holiday gift basket is a gift basket that you give at the holiday season. Gift baskets are typically a variety of items placed in a parcel to be delivered to a gift recipient’s home or office. They can vary from fruit baskets to wine baskets, but today, we want to take you off the beaten path to find some weird and funky gift baskets!
Zombie Survival Kit
Set yourself apart by buying a zombie survival kit instead of one of those expected holiday gift baskets! Imagine – it’s the zombie apocalypse. You’ve teamed up with a group of strangers to survive. What do you need? Other than, of course, food, this kit has it all for you. Let your giftee’s imagination take the lead while they fight for their hypothetical lives! Learn more about the Zombie Survival Kit.
Cost: $109.99
What’s Included: Axel, Mini Pick & Shovel, Fixed Tanto Knife with Built-in Firestarter, Combat Essentials, Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks, Zombie Flashlight, First Aid Kit, Duct Tape, SPAM
Why We Love It: This is a great gift for someone that loves zombie or horror movies or survivalism – and it’s surely different from your normal holiday gift baskets!
All Inclusive Charcuterie Chalet Kit
We’re sure you’ve heard of gingerbread houses, but what about a charcuterie chalet? A charcuterie chalet is just like a gingerbread house, but is constructed with the foods you’d see on a charcuterie board instead of sweet treats. This is different from our other holiday gift baskets because it’s interactive. First create, then eat! It’s your giftee’s choice as to how soon they chow down on their creation after they’ve built it! Get the full details on this charcuterie chalet kit and we bet you’ll be pressing that purchase button pretty quickly!
Cost: $129.95
What’s Included: Blueprints for How to Make a Charcuterie Chalet, Chateau and A-Frame, All Tools needed: 2 Base Cake Boards, 2 Piping Bags, Cheese Spreader, Charcuterie “Shingles”, Breadsticks “Timber”, Flatbread “Walls”, Fancy Spreadable Cheese “Mortar”, Pretzel “Windows”, Parmesan “Snow”, Smoked Cheese “Snowman”, Rosemary “Trees”, Dehydrated Orange “Decor”, Roasted Nut and Dried Fruit “Cobblestones”
Why We Love It: This gift basket is not only tasty, but a creative and engaging activity is built in!
Positive Vibes Gift Basket
Gift a gift of zen with this positive vibes gift basket.
From the site:
Every one of our gifts creates an impact because of the products we source. For example, we sell rich chocolates to provide job training to survivors of abuse, notebooks that are made from sustainably sourced wood that drives reforestation efforts, crisp granola that provides employment to those who were formerly incarcerated, and the list goes on.
Cost: $90
What’s Included: Organic herbal tea blend of golden turmeric and ginger, Lightly sweet tea biscuits with layers of toasted oats and hint of salt, Organic small-batch, farm-fresh strawberry jam, Bonsai tree seed grow kit, Ceramic mug, An artful booklet that showcases the stories behind our Impact Partners and the meaningful impact our gifts create
Why We Love It: Not only does this holiday gift basket encourage your giftee to feel great, the goods sourced in this basket also support organizations that help the global community.
Sichuan Pepper Inspired Gift Box
Fly By Jing’s tagline is “not traditional, but personal.” And we absolutely agree. The owner of the company, Jing, creates tongue tingling condiments and spice packs using classic Sichuan flavors, including the tongue numbing sichuan peppercorn. The most famous of their products is their delectable chili crisp, but this gift box holds so much more! Not only do you get their famous chili crisp, you’ll also get a chili vinaigrette, dried chilis to make your own creations, and more. Learn more about this flavor packed gift box!
Cost: $158
What’s Included: Sichuan Chili Crisp, Zhong Sauce, Mala Spice Mix, Chili Crisp Vinaigrette, Tribute Pepper, Erjingtiao Chili, Salsero Spoon, Tastes Different Magazine Vol. 1
Why We Love It: This is a great starter kit for someone into spice and wanting to get to know a new flavor profile – plus – the packaging is super hip and aesthetic.
Build and Program Your Own Robot
This kit isn’t just for kids! Let your giftee make their own programmable robot! This 10-in-1 robot kit allows you to make many different configurations including a self-balancing robot, catapult ram, camera dolly, and robotic ant. Let your imagination be the limit with this amazing, programmable robot kit. Learn more about the Ultimate 2.0 Makeblock Robot Kit!
Cost: $299.99
What’s Included: More than 550 mechanical parts and electronic modules for 10 custom robots and many more maker projects.
Why We Love It: This kit is ideal for programming and robot lovers – it’s like a science experiment kit for grown ups!
A Basket of Succulents
Ok, this is technically a box of succulents, but that’s pretty much the same thing as a basket right?! Either way, this elegant gift from Lula’s Garden is a different kind of gift basket that is great for plant lovers or just lovers of beautiful things. This gift basket features a combination of gorgeous succulents that have been planted in a hand crafted box for your giftee to receive. This is the gift that keeps on giving because your recipient will have them as long as they’re taken care of and stay alive – and bonus – succulents are super easy to take care of.
Cost: $28 – $135
What’s Included: Typically, a handcrafted gift box, an assortment of succulents artfully placed within the box, and a water dropper to water the plants
Why We Love It: This gift is a way to gift nature to a person’s home – whether they love plants or not – they’ll be happy to have this display for their abode.
Offbeat Pickles
This gift is as sour as it is salty! Mouth Foods offers pickle gift boxes, but not only that, they offer an offbeat pickle gift basket! What’s weirder than that?
From site:
Peter Piper, eat your heart out. As much as we love a classic pickled cuke, these cooler-than-a-cucumber iconoclasts deserve a little…lip service. So we’ve rounded up a few of our favorite pickled fruits and veggies in this highly snackable kit. There’s a gold mine of unconventional goodies that take mighty well to a long soak in a vinegar brine and spice: asparagus, string beans, watermelon, tomatoes, to name a few.
Cost: $90
What’s Included: Taters Gone Wild: Pickled Truffle + Curry Potatoes made by Mouth, Spicy Pickled Asparagus made by Pacific Pickle Works, Pickled Peaches made by Pickled Pink, Dill Kelp Pickles made by Foraged & Found, Pickled Cherry Tomatoes made by Doux South
Why We Love It: A fun foodie gift of treats we’re pretty sure your special someone hasn’t tried before!
Potato Parcel Gift Bundle
Potato Parcel is a company that won a deal on Shark Tank for their brilliant idea: the ability to send a potato with a custom message or image printed onto it! Kooky and quirky right? Bring a smile to anyone’s face with this unique and weird gift! The Potato Parcel Gift Bundle includes a customized potato (extra fees for an image instead of words), candy, and a classy gift wrap to throw your recipient off a bit! When they open their gift – they’re sure to crack a smile if not laugh out loud! Bonus: the company sends a dollar to a food bank for every order purchased.
Cost: $29.95
What’s Included: Personalized potato, card, candy, and optional gift wrap
Why We Love It: This might be our quirkiest gift basket yet and is a great gift for the person that has everything.
There they are! Our specially curated list of out of the box baskets served up on a platter. We hope you found something perfect for you and your giftee. Happy holidays!
