Creating fruit baskets for friends and family members is a great way to save money and still give wonderful gifts that your friends and family will love. When you buy fresh citrus fruit in economical bulk boxes you can keep some for your own family and use the rest in bright, cheerful baskets that will be perfect for any occasion. If you are even slightly creative you can make beautiful and unique fruit baskets that can be tailored for any occasion without spending a lot of money. Here are some tips that will help you put together wonderful, inexpensive gift baskets that look much more expensive than they are:

Mix fruits - Buy one bulk box of an exotic fruit like delicious Honeybell oranges or Clementines and use only a couple in the basket that you're creating. Fill the rest of the basket with naval oranges, grapefruits, apples, and other fruits that are still delicious but that are easier to come by. That way the fruit basket you create will have a touch of exotic flavor but won't cost you a fortune to make. Using tropical or exotic fruits is a great way to make your fruit basket unique and to show off your creativity. Let the colors of the tropical fruits be an inspiration when you choose other gifts for the basket.

Throw in some gourmet goodies as fillers - If you want to fill the basket to the brim to make it look like the gift is overflowing with treats buy some pre-packaged nuts in decorative bags and containers, or buy some individually wrapped gourmet candies, and use those as filler in the gift basket around the fruit that you have chosen. The recipient will love getting a gift basket full of fruit and colorfully wrapped sweets and nuts, and you can save a little money.

Buy fruit in bulk, and containers on sale -Bushel baskets and boxes of citrus fruits like oranges and grapefruits are very affordable and citrus fruits can be kept for a long time without losing their freshness buying  large boxes of citrus fruits to use in gift fruit baskets is a great way to save money.  You can pick up decorative baskets and unique containers when they are on sale at local home stores, at yard and estate sales, or at thrift shops. You can make your own decorative boxes by using ink stamps, ribbons, decorative papers and stickers to hold the fruit.