The holidays are coming up and will probably be here before we know it, so it's a good idea to start planning now. That's true in particular if you have a lot of people to buy for. It's also important if you're like me and have a significant other who's picky. Over the years I discovered that coffee gift baskets work particularly well for him. He gets a nice assortment of things and I get to give a nice-looking gift that doesn't cost that much. And I don't even have to pick it up from the store, so we're both happy. As a result, I've actually become a bit of a gift basket freak. The people in my life have come to expect them from me whenever I give them a gift. And my friends tell me they look forward to getting them, so that confirms I'm on the right track.

The great thing about giving gift baskets is that they come in so many varieties. When I want to send gifts to people who just finished moving into new houses, I normally order wine and cheese gift baskets. Those also do double-duty as bon voyage gifts or to congratulate someone on finishing a home remodeling project. Still, there are occasions when the perfect type of gift basket doesn't leap right out at me, so I do a search by the person's gender. Doing an online search for "gift baskets for men" or the opposite usually produces a large selection of varied baskets that range from coffee to Kosher foods to cookies. So something usually pops up that I haven't seen before.

My only issue with looking for gift baskets on the Internet is that I usually end up buying something myself! But that's OK; I've gotten some really fun stuff that way. In fact, I'm still drinking some Napa wines I purchased in a gift basket I found while searching for a friend's gift last month. As I write this I realized I should finish those bottles soon. I'm going to start my holiday shopping any day now and I'll be I will be buying more for myself!