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"  Tempted by the bountiful cornucopias in catalogs and online? Order carefully.  Setting a limit of $55, we ordered 22 &amp;quot;gourmet&amp;quot; baskets with a mix of sweets and savories, candy assortments, and popcorn tins from online sites. We rated ease of ordering, resemblance to the website photo, &amp;quot;wow&amp;quot; factor out of the box, value for the money ounce for ounce, and most highly, quality of the food. Sound like fun? Think again. We spat out pat\u00E9 (cat food?), rancid nuts, crackers and popcorn that had stood way too long on storage shelves, &amp;quot;Brie&amp;quot; that tasted like Velveeta, and chocolate chip cookies that couldn&amp;#039;t hold a candle to supermarket chippers.  The good news: We found a few that were not only impressive when unpacked but that contained real treats! Be sure to see our review of the winners. If you do venture into the world of gift basket giving, here are some helpful tips to help you find good value for your money.   While we expected to find a small hidden gem, we found well-established brands offered more consistent quality of ingredients. Plus their websites require fewer steps to place an order and are more intuitive to navigate. Order from a company that you&amp;#039;re familiar with or from a gourmet store that will let you customize the basket with products that you know, love, and think are of high quality. If you&amp;#039;re ordering a gourmet basket which contains cheese or a spread, make sure it also includes crackers to serve with it. In general, avoid gourmet baskets with small quantities of pretzels, peanuts, and popcorn. They don&amp;#039;t add much value for your money. Read the information about the gift card carefully. Often it&amp;#039;s simply a message on the packing slip where it could easily be missed and discarded. Consider paying a little extra for a real card, giving the recipient a heads-up that a basket&amp;#039;s on its way, and/or following up if you don&amp;#039;t get a thank you. It&amp;#039;s worth setting-up an account with the website from which you&amp;#039;re ordering. It makes it easier to track your order.  For other gift ideas, be sure to see our ideas for everyone on your list. Want to learn how we put consumer products to the test and keep you safe? Sign up for a tour of the famous Good Housekeeping Research Institute. If you visit, be sure to say hello when you visit the Kitchen Appliances &amp;amp;amp; Technology Lab. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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