Way back at the very beginning of Covid, I had to cancel a birthday party for W and somehow convince my little boy that everything would still be ok when everything felt all wrong. There were not many things we could do, but I knew we could still celebrate his birthday with some style and fun that could bring everyone together, even though we were all apart. He was obsessed with the Lego Movies at the time so I thought, “Why not use that?” We ended up arranging with everyone who was supposed to be at the party to drop off a gift basket at their door so they could watch his favorite movie at their convince and send him (me) pictures of the fun they had with everything in the basket. So he got to see they were still thinking of him and celebrating his birthday. I fell in love with the way these turned out and wanted to share them with you because who doesn’t love Lego? You can certainly make this gift basket for any use, such as a fundraiser donation, a gift for a new neighbor, or even for your own family, it works for many other things that what we used it for. (Let me apologize for the pictures right now, I was taking them for a personal record at the time, not for sharing so they aren’t the greatest.)
What do You Need to Get Started?
To begin, you need your container. I went with some cool paper popcorn buckets I found on Amazon, but they came in bulk, so if you only need one, I would suggest checking out the dollar store in your town for a fun popcorn bowl style container. You can also use the standard wicker basket or even up the gift value and pack it into the top of one of those Lego bins they sell full of random Legos to build with. Next, you will need some basic candy and snacks. We chose some fun candies, a pack of popcorn, and a couple of prepackaged cake style snacks. Now you can pick some fun activities to include, I had found some cool new products that had Lego bracelets in them the kids could decorate as well as some Lego mini build kits that were at the checkout counter of our local big box store. They all cost less than $5 a piece so it was fun to mix and match them for each basket. To scale it up you can choose some fun Lego sets that are a bit bigger or other Lego themed toys or gifts. We had arranged with everyone to rent the movies for the “birthday party”, but you can include the DVD, Blu Ray, or a gift card for rentals as an additional gift if you prefer. The final little touch I added was some themed paper products that were for the Lego Movie. I ordered a pack of each so every family got a couple napkins and cups and I feel like this really added a fun touch, and gave them the chance to make this movie night even more special! It didn’t cost a ton extra and was really fun to add to the basket for some additional theming.
Packing it All Together
Now it’s time to pack your baskets, depending on what you selected to go into the basket(s) you may need a filler to keep things positioned in a way to to make it look as good as possible. For this type of basket I would recommend using tissue paper and/or small empty cardboard boxes you have wrapped in plain paper depending on the size of filler you need. If you are making these for multiple families or people you will need to consider what to pack per person vs. per family. For the smaller candies and the bracelets we packed one per child, then for the bigger candies and snacks we went more towards one per family member. This will depend entirely on the use for the basket and what your budget is. If you are doing this to give to an unknown receiver or for a fundraiser item, you will not know how many people you are working with, so use your best judgment for each item. If I was making these for a fundraiser I may work in sets of 4-6 for the smaller items and maybe add some extra popcorn and candy to fill things out nicely, I would definitely add some extra paper products, maybe even a whole pack of each.
Activities to Keep Them Entertained
You may be wanting to tailor this to another theme or maybe for adults and are wondering why we included the things we did. We have found it is super helpful to have a specific activity designated for movie nights to help keep little minds busy and adult minds focused on the here and now and not on their phones. We had several groups that received these buckets that did not have kiddos and they still loved the mini build kits! I think you would be surprised at how many adults love working on little projects like this so don’t feel like you can’t include them for adults-only audiences. I would say that I think this general formula would work for lots of different themes of movie nights, especially if there is a big new movie you want to use, as they usually release some fun merchandise when a new movie comes out on video. Look for craft kits or fun blind bags to include in this case. If you cannot find fun merchandise to include for your theme, consider printing some fun coloring sheets for the kids or even the rules for a cheeky drinking game for adults. I recommend looking on Pinterest for ideas from birthday parties if you are struggling with coming up with ideas.
The Lego Master Was Pleased!
I have to say this went so much better than I was hoping. W was so thrilled and still felt special for his birthday and the guests all loved the baskets. We got tons of pictures of families happily building with Legos and enjoying their treats. I think it gave everyone the chance to have a fun, carefree, and easy night at home and I think, even now, that makes all the difference. To take a night and declare it a Lego Only Zone just gives you a chance to relax and have a little fun, so I cannot recommend this enough as a gift basket idea. I hope to make more gift baskets in the future in this style, and I look forward to hearing about your ideas and adventures with these gift basket in the comments below!
