Big Little Basket Ideas for a Little You've Only Known Since Bid Day | Bluegrass Gifts

Reveal Night Is the Easy Part. Week Six Is the Test.

Most big little basket ideas are built for reveal night: the photo, the scream, the basket heavier than your little. Then comes week six. The candy is gone, the crinkle paper lives in the carpet, and the third lettered koozie is under the lofted bed with the second one. Nothing went wrong. The basket just held nothing she needed after the photo.

The best big little basket ideas start with what kind of little she is, then fill around one thing she will use for months, not minutes. Keep the filler small, skip anything she already owns three of, and write a card she will want to keep.

Our honest suggestion for that one keeper is a bag of Pretty in Pink wax melts, a big little basket idea that outlasts the candy. It smells of pink florals, dark raspberry and vanilla, like a pink bouquet with a bowl of berries beside it, and we pour it by hand in our Kentucky shop. Fair warning, which we will come back to: plenty of dorms do not allow wax warmers.

The rest of this page is the plan, whatever you buy: which little you got, what fills her basket, what to leave out, and a card line worth keeping.

Big Little Basket Ideas, Matched to the Little You Actually Got

You have known her since bid day, which means you know her major, her hometown and, if you are lucky, her coffee order. That is enough. Almost every little lands in one of these five:

• The homesick freshman. The tell: she goes home every other weekend and video-calls her mom from the stairwell. Fill it with a soft throw for the lofted bed, a printed photo of the two of you and the snack from back home she cannot find on campus. Skip anything loud. The keeper: Pretty in Pink tarts in hearts or teddy bears, tucked in her sweater drawer until she has a place to melt them.
• The one who already has everything lettered. The tell: her shirt, tumbler, tote and blanket all carry the letters, and her family has been ordering chapter merch since the bid went out. Fill it with things that carry her name, her hometown or your inside jokes. Skip one more lettered anything. The keeper: Pretty in Pink tarts in the flowers, the one thing in the basket with no letters on it, which is the point.
• The apartment girl. The tell: a lease, a real kitchen and a warmer already on the counter. Fill it with a good dish towel, a small plant and coffee for the 8 a.m. class she regrets signing up for. Skip anything sized for a dorm. The keeper: the 8 oz squeeze pouch of Pretty in Pink, soft wax she squeezes straight into the dish, with a stronger throw and no crumbs.
• The planner. The tell: a color-coded calendar, three highlighters and a to-do list for her to-do list. Fill it with good pens, sticky tabs, a weekly notepad and a desk tray. Skip clutter with nowhere to live. The keeper: Pretty in Pink tarts in the rounded squares, tidy enough for her, with a card telling her to schedule a night off.
• The one you have barely met. The tell: you were paired on paper and have talked twice. Fill it with the safe middle: fuzzy socks, a snack big enough to share with her roommate and a phone stand. Skip clothes in a size you are guessing at. The keeper: Pretty in Pink in any shape, because a floral that is prettier than it is sweet is a safe bet for a nose you do not know yet.

If she likes things softer, First Crush is the lighter sister, sweet fruit and soft florals. One more idea: buy two bags of the same scent, one for her and one for you. Any two or more melts or signs earn up to 20% off at checkout, and a big and little whose rooms smell the same is matching that needs no letters.

◆ From the Workshop: Pretty in Pink is the name of the scent, not a promise about the color, and that matters if your basket has a color scheme. The tarts in the 9 oz bag are a coconut-soy wax blend and fragrance oil, and that is the whole list, so they come out cream-colored like the tarts in every other scent; through the clear bag, the shape is what she sees. The 8 oz squeeze pouch is different: its wax color varies from batch to batch, so the pouch in our photo shows one batch and hers may land a different shade. The scent holds every time, so match the ribbon to the tissue paper and let the melts be the part she smells.

Big Little Basket Ideas That End Up Under the Bed

The tighter limit on any basket is not your budget; it is her room. A shared double gives her one dresser, one closet and the floor under the lofted bed, and anything that does not earn a spot ends up down there. Leave these out:

• Crinkle paper. It looks full in the photo, and she will be picking it out of the carpet until spring. Fold a throw into the bottom instead, so the filler is a gift too.
• The fifth lettered thing. By reveal week she has been handed letters by her family, her chapter and everyone at the merch table. One more tumbler is a shelf problem.
• A basket bigger than her desk. Make the container part of the gift: a bin that slides under the bed, or a tote she will carry to class.
• Candles. Most residence halls ban open flames outright. A candle she cannot light is a decoration that can get her written up.
• A mountain of candy. One bag of her favorite beats six bags of yours. Candy is also why wax melts never ride loose in the basket: they look a lot like candy, and they are not food, so keep them sealed in their bag, apart from the snacks.
• Glitter and confetti. Her roommate will still be finding it in May.

The rule underneath it all: every item should get used up, get used every day, or get kept for what is written on it. That last group is mostly the card.

The Dorm Question Nobody Asks Until the RA Does

Here is the part a lot of basket guides skip: many dorms do not allow wax warmers. Housing rules often lump them in with candles and incense, though every school writes its own and some halls allow them. Before a warmer goes in any basket, check her hall's rules. We do not sell warmers, and in a dorm that bans them, we would not want you to buy her one.

The melts still earn their spot. In a no-warmer dorm, the bag of tarts goes into her sweater drawer or the back of her closet with the zip cracked open a finger's width, the wax kept inside the bag so it never touches her clothes. It works like a sachet: the drawer smells of pink florals and raspberry instead of the laundry room down the hall. When she moves into an apartment or goes home for break, the melts go into a warmer made for wax melts, never left on unattended and kept away from children and pets.

If she is new to melts, we wrote a guide to using wax melts without making a mess, worth texting her with the reveal photos.

Our Pick for the Basket, and the Card That Goes on Top

If we were packing your basket, the keeper would be Pretty in Pink. It is prettier than it is sweet, which matters in a small room shared with a roommate, and the vanilla is light enough that the florals keep it clean. It comes two ways, both $16.99 with free U.S. shipping: a 9 oz bag of tarts in boots and hats, flowers, rounded squares, hearts or teddy bears, natural and plant-based, a coconut-soy wax blend and fragrance oil; or an 8 oz squeeze pouch, the same scent as soft wax you squeeze straight into the dish, with mineral oil added, so it is not a natural product. Dorm girl gets the bag; apartment girl gets the pouch.

We are a small Kentucky shop with 5,000+ customer reviews, and we pour our Bluegrass Belle Wax & Wick melts by hand in the same shop where we carve our signs. If her taste runs another way, read the notes in our wax melts collection instead of the names; all 30 scents list their notes, and notes tell you more about a stranger's nose than a cute name does. If she ends up with two and wants to run them together, we wrote about combining wax melt scents without making the room smell weird.

The card is the other keeper. Write one line in the handwriting she has been seeing on every clue, and sign it from her big:

• Homesick freshman: “This place doesn't feel like home yet. It will, and you've got me until it does.”
• Has everything lettered: “You've got the letters covered. This part is just from me.”
• Apartment girl: “For the first place with your name on the lease. Make it smell like you live there.”
• The planner: “Pencil in one night off a week. That's an order from your big.”
• Barely met: “We've had about four conversations, and I already know I got the right little.”
• Every basket: “The melts in the bag are wax, not candy, no matter how good they smell.”

Order the keeper before you buy the ribbon, and build the basket around it instead of the other way around: a bag of Pretty in Pink wax melts for your little, and a second one for your own room if you want to match.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do you put in a big little basket?

A good big little basket holds one keeper she will use for months, a few small things matched to who she is, one favorite snack and a handwritten card, all packed in a container she can reuse after reveal week. Skip crinkle paper, oversized items and the fifth thing with letters on it. A bag of wax melts makes an easy keeper, sealed and set apart from the candy.

Are wax warmers allowed in college dorms?

Many college dorms do not allow wax warmers, and housing rules often group them with candles and incense, though every school sets its own policy and some halls permit them, so check her hall's rules before a warmer goes in a gift. If they are banned, a bag of wax melts can sit in her drawer as a sachet until she has an apartment. Wherever she melts them, use a warmer made for wax melts and never leave it on unattended.

Should I put the tarts or the squeeze pouch in her basket?

Put the 9 oz bag of tarts in the basket if she lives in a dorm, and the 8 oz squeeze pouch if she has an apartment and already runs a warmer; both are $16.99 and ship free in the U.S. The tarts come in five shapes and are natural and plant-based. The pouch is soft wax you squeeze straight into the dish, with a stronger throw; it contains mineral oil, so it is not a natural product. Either way, they look a lot like candy and are not food, so keep them sealed and away from the snacks.