Less than a decade ago, it was tradition to give flowers and plants as gifts for such occasions as birthdays, anniversaries, hostess and thank you gifts, new baby gifts, and to express condolences in the loss of a loved one. While flowers are still an acceptable and welcome gift, the choice of a gift basket filled with gourmet food or gift items offers a unique and exciting alternative.

Gift baskets can be filled with a myriad of items, and because of the range of items presented, they are sure to please anyone on your gift list, even the most hard to please.

A gift basket filled with gourmet snack items such as biscotti, gourmet coffee, delicious cookies, and tempting crackers, cheeses and patés is a welcome gift for almost any occasion. You can never go wrong with a gift of gourmet. Everyone has to eat!

Is there a special person on your list celebrating a birthday? How about a gift basket filled with a birthday cake, a humorous book, delicious candies and chocolates? Is someone on your gift list feeling poorly or recovering from surgery? A whimsical gift basket stuffed with an over-sized chocolate aspirin, a quality plush bear sporting a bandaid, candies, a crossword book to help pass the time, and some soothing tea can be a most welcome gift.

When a loved one passes away, family members are often deluged with floral arrangements. While flowers are beautiful, having many arrangements delivered all at once can be impractical and more often than not, the arrangements are given away. A basket filled with comforting items such as an inspirational book, and warming gourmet foods, or perhaps a pampering basket for a woman, will long be remembered as the most thoughtful gift your recipient received during their time of sorrow.

Giving gift baskets as corporate gifts is a relatively new trend that has taken off within the last few years. While some gifts are seen as too personal for the corporate environment and giving alcohol is now deemed inappropriate in many cases, a gift basket such as a gourmet dinner, breakfast or snack basket will be warmly received by anyone and everyone. Giving a large basket to an entire office staff is an easy and affordable way to take care of everyone on your list.

The reasons for giving gift baskets are many. Almost every occasion can be remembered with a gift basket and your recipients will appreciate your thoughtfulness.

We realize there are a number of gift basket companies to choose from. Why choose On-A-Whim? The reasons are many. We have been in the gifting business since 1996. When you purchase from us you can be assured that we will still be here tomorrow. We sell thousands of gift baskets and each basket is created when you order it. We do not pull pre-made gift baskets off the shelf, dust them off and send them out to your recipient. When your gift basket is made to order, you can be assured that the items are fresh. When your gift basket is made to order, swapping items out of the basket according to your recipient's taste, is easy. Does your recipient have a favorite color? We can create a gorgeous presentation in the color scheme you request. That's impossible for many gift basket companies online, because they don't even put together their own baskets!

Every On-A-Whim gift basket is created specifically for each order, then shipped directly from our store to your recipient. We are not a third-party basket broker, taking orders and having them drop shipped from a warehouse selling cookie-cutter pre-made gift baskets. When you shop our online store, you are choosing from our own exclusive gift baskets, designed and created by On-A-Whim employees. Our staff is solely accountable for the quality and design of every gift we ship out. We stand by our quality.

Each basket is created using sturdy and beautiful wicker or bamboo baskets or unique containers. We purchase our gourmet and giftware items from all over the country. Most of our items are proudly made in the USA. We fill each basket with fresh, unique and delicious gourmet food items, not "grocery store" finds. Our staff taste tests every product before we sell it in our gift baskets. A product can be beautifully packaged but it must have a wide taste appeal if we are to sell it in our gifts. Don't be fooled by the "big boys" offering what appears to be baskets loaded up with gourmet foods for an almost hard to believe price. Read the fine print. Most of those baskets are filled with tiny sizes of items. We know that your recipients want full size boxes of delicious treats. Paying for a gift basket filled with sample sizes is not a good value at all. What you are paying for is mountains of packaging and hardly any consumable or usable product. We pride ourselves in offering mostly full size items in our baskets. When we do offer smaller sizes, we tell you upfront.

All of our gift baskets are topped with hand tied bows using quality ribbon. Each basket is embellished with silk florals or mylar decorations. We think the presentation of your basket is just as important as what's in the basket. We know you agree. We do not, however, load the basket full of packing paper, wads of paper shred, mounds of embellishments, or dangerous skewers and picks. Those type of design techniques are frustrating to your recipient and offer little value to you, the consumer. Each basket is shrink-wrapped so it arrives as beautiful as the day it was created and it is over-wrapped in soft patterned cello for beauty. We do not cut corners by offering baskets only shipped with shrink wrapping, and we rarely use plain clear cello.

Our baskets are upscale but are the best value on the internet. Our pricing is very fair and competitive. You do not have to spend a small fortune to look good, when you shop with On-A-Whim.

There will be times when we are forced to substitute an item in your gift basket due to unavailability. If that happens, rest assured we will more than make up for it by substituting with a similar item of at least equal value and more often than not, your substitution will be of greater value.

We realize and understand that most of our gift baskets are ordered as gifts for special occasions. When this is the case, you need your gift to get there quickly. We fill and ship orders on a daily basis during business days. All orders placed by 1:00 pm ET will be shipped the same day. Orders placed after 1:00 pm ET, will be shipped the following business day. Need to know exactly when your order will arrive? You can check our Time in Transit map located on our website. Need your gift to be there even quicker? We offer premium air shipping. Just drop us an email with that basket you desire and the destination zip code and we will happily respond with a shipping quote.

We ship using UPS or FedEx only. We use these carriers because your gift basket will arrive on time and free from damage. All shipments are trackable and insured. We will not leave you hanging, wondering when your gift or gift basket will arrive. As long as you provide us with a valid email address when you order, you will receive an email notification of shipment, delivery, and if there are any problems with delivery. We do charge for shipping. The reason for this is simple. As with all businesses, we are charged for shipping by our carriers and we have to pay for shipping boxes and packing materials. Don't be fooled by any company offering free shipping. The shipping is never free, it's just built into the retail price of the items you purchase. No company can survive without recouping the shipping costs. We prefer to be upfront and honest about shipping charges. We are not in the shipping business and therefore we do not make money on shipping. We do charge a fair price in order to pay our carriers and shipping materials suppliers.

We know that you will be pleased with our selection, pricing, quality, timely delivery and exceptional customer service. As you can see there are many reasons to choose On-A-Whim. Give us a try. We appreciate your business very much, and we will be happy to have you as one of our loyal customers.