A boo basket is a small Halloween gift basket, filled with treats and seasonal odds and ends and given to someone as a surprise. Some people still leave one on a doorstep and get away before the door opens. Most just hand them over.
It's one of the nicer things you can do at the end of October, and it asks very little of you: one basket, a few well-chosen things in it, handed to someone who wasn't expecting it. Twenty minutes, once you've sorted out the basket.
What is a boo basket?
A boo basket is a Halloween gift basket given as a surprise, usually during the last fortnight of October. Inside there's one main gift, two or three smaller treats and something seasonal, all packed into a basket, hamper or tray.
There's no set list of contents, which is half the appeal. A basket for a six-year-old might have a pumpkin-carving kit in it, a bag of sweets and some glow-in-the-dark socks. One for an adult might have a candle, a decent bar of chocolate and a film to watch. It's the basket that makes the whole thing look like a present rather than a bag of shopping.
Where the tradition came from
Boo baskets started as an American neighbourhood thing. You'd leave a basket of treats on a doorstep, ring the bell and get away before anyone answered, with a note saying you've been booed and a paper ghost for the window. The note is the important part: it asks whoever gets it to boo someone else, and you don't sign it. The ghost goes in the window so the rest of the street knows the house has already been done, which is why the etiquette is to check for one before you leave anything.
How to build a boo basket in five steps
The order matters, because the basket decides what'll fit in it.
1. Start with the basket
Pick the basket before you buy anything to go in it. Do it the other way round, and you'll end up with a pile of gifts and nothing that holds them properly.
Three shapes work. An open shopper with a handle is easy to carry and easy to leave on a doorstep. A lidded hamper keeps everything hidden until it's opened, which counts for a lot with children. A shallow tray lays it all out flat so you can see the whole thing at once, better for smaller gifts and much better for photographs.
Skip the plastic cauldrons and the pound-shop buckets. They'll do for one evening, and then they're in the bin by the second week of November, which is the opposite of the point.
Everything in the create your own gift hamper collection is meant to be filled rather than given as it is, so it's a sensible place to start.
2. Choose one main gift
Pick one thing to carry the basket: a throw, a pair of pyjamas, a good candle, a boxed game, a book. It sets the tone for everything else, and it stops the finished basket looking like a random pile of small stuff.
Sort that out before the fillers and build outwards. A cosy main gift pulls the rest towards autumn evenings, a silly one pulls it towards Halloween proper. Pick a lane and stay in it. A basket with both a cashmere throw and a rubber spider in it reads like two half-finished ideas.
3. Add two or three smaller treats
Two or three is plenty. One clear main gift and a few well-chosen extras looks better than a basket crammed up to the handles.
Mix something to eat with something to do. One bag of sweets and a pack of cards beats four bags of sweets. A hot chocolate sachet, a set of tealights, a pair of socks, a pumpkin-carving kit.
4. Line it and pack it
Line the basket with something soft, then pack in layers. Tall things at the back, main gift in the middle, small stuff tucked round the edges so nothing slides about on the way over.
Two things to watch while you're doing it. Wicker snags fine knits, so wrap anything delicate before it goes in. And keep a scented candle well away from the food, or the chocolate and biscuits will taste of it by tomorrow.
You don't need shredded paper or cellophane for any of this. There's a section further down on managing without.
5. Finish it off and hand it over
A luggage tag with a name on it will do. If you want to keep to the original tradition, add the you've been booed note and a paper ghost, then tell whoever gets it to pass the idea on.
Give it in the last week or two of October rather than on the night itself. The 31st is all costumes, trick-or-treating, and answering the door every few minutes, and a gift basket gets lost in that.
If you're doing a doorstep drop, put the name where it'll be seen straight away, because an unnamed basket on a shared doorstep goes to whoever gets there first. Evening is the time for it. One warning, though: October in this country is wet, and an open basket left out on a step will be soaked within the hour if the weather turns. Stick it under a porch, or bag the contents inside the basket.
What a good boo basket looks like
The difference between one that looks considered and one that looks like a raid on the reduced aisle is mostly arrangement, and it comes down to three things.
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Height. You want the contents sitting above the rim and sloping down towards the front, rather than packed level. A basket filled flat to the top looks like storage.
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A narrow palette. Two or three colours running through the contents will do more for how it looks than anything else in this guide. Natural willow or a grey wash finish helps here, because it sits behind almost anything without fighting it.
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Some visible weave. Leave part of the basket showing. It's the nicest thing about it, and it's the first thing people cover up.
On scale, don't overthink it. A basket you can carry comfortably in one hand suits a colleague or a neighbour. Something you'd want both hands for is a partner or a household. For children, go for a child's basket rather than a small adult one, because the proportions suit smaller hands and it'll go straight back out on the 31st for trick-or-treating.
Weight is the one thing genuinely worth checking. A big basket with two bottles in it is more than a seven-year-old can carry, and a child who can't lift their own present has already lost interest in it. If you do want exact dimensions before you buy, our guide on how to measure a basket has them.
One last point in the basket's favour. It outlasts everything you put in it, and whoever gets it will still be using it in December, holding towels, toys or logs. Our post on how to style a storage basket has more on that, and if you're decorating as well as gifting, our easy Halloween decorating tips cover how baskets fit round the house through October.
Boo basket ideas for kids
Children get more out of a basket that gives them something to do than one that's just sweets, especially when they're about to collect a bagful on the 31st anyway. The best ones buy you an afternoon: something to make, something to wear, something to stick on their bedroom wall.
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A pumpkin-carving kit, with a tea towel underneath to catch the mess
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Halloween pyjamas, folded into the base so they double as the lining
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Glow sticks, or a torch they can keep
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A rhyming picture book for the younger ones, or a first chapter book if they're reading on their own
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A small soft toy: a ghost, a bat, a black cat
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Window stickers, so they can do their own room
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Face paints, though not for anyone much over nine, who'll find them a bit insulting
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Sweets, fewer than you think. One bag, not four.
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A film, but check what they've already seen. Something they've watched three times is a safer bet than something you rate more highly.
A child's gondola shopper at £51 or a child's country oval shopper at £55 will hold the lot and still look like a proper present when it's empty. Point out that it's theirs to keep, and the basket stops being packaging.
Boo basket ideas for teens and students
Teenagers are harder, and face paints won't land. Students living away from home, though, are one of the best people to do this for. A box of useful things turning up unannounced in October lifts a fairly bleak stretch of term.
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A hot chocolate or coffee setup, with a mug to go with it
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The branded version of whatever they usually buy own-brand. That's the whole trick with student snacks.
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Tealights or a candle, because halls lighting is uniformly grim
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Cash or a gift card in an envelope
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The dull essentials nobody wants to spend their own money on: painkillers, tissues, a pen that works
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Something to watch, picked for their nerve rather than yours
Fairy lights come up constantly for this, and plenty of student accommodation bans them outright, so check first.
For a student, the basket is half the gift. It goes back to halls with them and holds books, washing or kitchen bits for the rest of the year. A small rectangular grey rattan storage basket, currently £26.50 down from £53, is about the right size.
Boo basket ideas for her
These lean towards autumn evenings rather than Halloween itself. The ones that land are really just an excuse to stop for a night: a candle lit, a blanket over your knees, something to watch and nowhere else to be.
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A candle. The CALM essential oil candle at £14.50 is a straightforward choice.
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A set of ribbed glass tealights at £14.99, which fill a corner of the basket and last the season
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A throw or blanket, folded into the base so it lines the basket. It doesn't have to be new.
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One good bar of chocolate rather than a box of assorted. A box says you didn't know what she likes.
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A film for a night in, the sort that gets rewatched every October rather than something new
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A bar of proper soap, the kind that comes wrapped in paper instead of plastic
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A hot water bottle, which sounds unromantic and is the most used thing in most houses by November
If you take one idea off this page, take the folded blanket. It lines the basket, protects whatever's packed on top, and saves you buying packaging at all.
Two to leave out. Anything with a date or a name embroidered on it is a one-year gift dressed up as a keepsake. And those boxed sets of miniature toiletries every high street shop sells by the pallet in October. Nobody has ever finished one.
Boo basket ideas for him
The usual mistake is a pamper basket with a different label on it. Work out what he's already into and build around that, and it'll land better than anything themed.
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Beer, cider or a small bottle of something, with glasses if there's room
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A hot sauce he can't get in the local supermarket
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A pumpkin-carving kit, which adults enjoy more than they let on
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A film he's mentioned wanting to watch again, which beats one you've decided he ought to see
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A boxed game, but only if there's anyone to play it with
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Socks, which are dull and always welcome
A small antique wash wooden-handled storage basket at £52 suits this better than a frilly hamper, and it ends up holding tools, cables or logs afterwards.
Boo basket ideas by budget
Three builds, with real prices, so you can see where the money goes.
Under £25
Basket included.
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Basket: Wovenhill wicker grey wash storage basket with lining, Small, £18
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A bag of sweets and a bar of chocolate, around £3
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A pack of glow sticks, or a paper ghost you cut out yourself, around £2
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A tag and a handwritten note
Around £23 all in. Line it with a tea towel you already own and it'll look like more than it cost.
Around £50
Where most boo baskets end up.
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Basket: Small rectangular grey rattan storage basket, £26.50, half price from £53
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A candle, or a set of tealights, around £15
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A good bar of chocolate and a hot chocolate sachet, around £6
Around £47. If you'd rather have willow than rattan, the 10 Inch Willow Wicker Hamper at £48 does the same job and takes a lid.
£100 and over
For a partner, or for a whole household.
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Basket: 12 Inch Buff Willow Hamper, £54
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A throw or blanket as the liner, anything from £30
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A candle and a set of tealights, around £30
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Chocolate, popcorn and something to watch, around £15
Around £130, and more if the throw is a good one. Leave the throw out, and you're closer to £100.
One thing to weigh up at this end. A pre-filled hamper at £100 is mostly packaging and a tin of biscuits. Build your own at £50, and you get a basket that lasts plus one gift the person actually wanted.
How to wrap a boo basket without the single-use plastic
Shredded paper, cellophane and a bow are the standard answer. All three are things you buy so you can bin them in November, and the shredded paper will still be turning up in your hoover at Christmas. A basket doesn't need any of it. Half the point of a woven basket is that you can see the weave, so wrapping one in shiny plastic is a strange thing to do to it.
A few alternatives:
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A tea towel or a length of fabric, laid in so the corners sit up over the rim. It looks deliberate, and the tea towel gets kept.
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The throw or the pyjamas, if the main gift's soft. Fold it into the base, pack on top of it, and the packaging is part of the present.
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Brown paper, scrunched. Cheap, compostable, and better-looking than shredded paper.
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A cloth napkin or a tray over the top instead of cellophane, tied once with garden twine.
If you want it hidden until it's opened, use a lidded hamper instead of wrapping an open basket. The lid does what the cellophane was doing. We've written about wicker against plastic elsewhere if you want the longer argument.
None of this needs to be elaborate. The boo baskets that land are almost always the simplest ones: something they'll properly use, a couple of things they'd never buy for themselves, and a basket that isn't in the bin on November 1st. Get the basket right and the rest more or less sorts itself out.
