Before Jade Anderson started Bumble Bee Baskets, she was experiencing a feeling that many can relate to. “I was working [as a paralegal] downtown and wanted to do something more fun and creative,” she says. As Jade continued to work her regular job, she began to think more about how to transition into what she loved. “I tend to go over the top when giving gifts,” she explains. “I thought it was something I do all the time anyway and I would really like to do it professionally.” With her passion leading the way, it wasn’t long before Jade opened Bumble Bee Baskets in 2008.
Bumble Bee Baskets specializes in beautiful, unique gift baskets for individuals and corporate events. Every basket is built to make a lasting impression, whether it’s customized or selected from the hundreds available on their online store. “We want to create things that are useful and practical,” says Jade. “So we don’t start with a basket; we start with a unique base, like a cutting board, serving bowl, beer bucket and so on. We build something from there. That’s why our baskets look so different from standard baskets.”
Jade also happens to dislike wicker. For someone in the gift basket industry, this may seem strange, but it’s actually at the heart of her business. “I’ve gotten rid of about 90 per cent of my wicker baskets,” she says. “The wicker gift baskets that you can buy aren’t very creative, useful or practical. I want to put my creative energies towards building unique gifts.”
