Gift Basket vs Hamper: The Difference and Which to Send
Gift basket is the everyday American phrase for food packed up as a present. Hamper is the word you meet on British food gifts, and the London grocer Fortnum & Mason says it has made them since the 1730s. The two overlap, since a hamper is a kind of basket, but they are not quite the same thing, and the difference changes how you pack and send one.
This guide covers what each word means, where the food hamper came from, a side-by-side table, and two builds priced from listed prices: a lidded hamper for a household and a smaller gift box for one person.
What the two words mean
Merriam-Webster defines a hamper as "a large basket usually with a cover for packing, storing, or transporting articles (such as food or laundry)." The dictionary dates that meaning to the 14th century and traces the word through Middle English hanaper to the Anglo-French hanap, a goblet: the first hanapers were cases built to hold cups.
A basket, in Merriam-Webster's first sense, is simply "a receptacle made of interwoven material (such as osiers)," a meaning the dictionary dates to the 13th century. So every hamper is a basket, but a hamper is a large one, usually with a lid, made to be packed and taken somewhere. A gift basket is any arrangement of gifts in a container, and in American use that container is often open, a shallow basket or a box.
Where the food hamper came from
Fortnum & Mason's own history says its first hampers were made in the late 1730s for wealthy travellers heading to country estates or to take the waters in Bath. The food at coaching inns along the way could be poor, so travellers asked the shop to pack baskets for the road. Fortnum's lists what went into them: game pies, fresh bread, West Country butter, Scotch eggs, cheese, hothouse fruit and rich fruit cake.
Picnics then took the hamper outdoors. The same history describes Derby Day in the Victorian London Season, with carriages queuing from 4am to collect their picnic baskets, and says Fortnum's sent provisions to Wellington's soldiers in 1815. The idea that held on is the one in the dictionary: a big, covered basket of food packed to travel.
Gift basket vs hamper, side by side
| Gift basket | Hamper | |
|---|---|---|
| Container | Any basket, tray or box | A large basket, crate or trunk |
| Lid | Often open, sometimes wrapped | Usually covered |
| Size | Small to medium | Medium to large |
| Typical contents | A theme: tea, snacks, a hobby | A meal's worth or a season's worth of food |
| Word used most in | The U.S. | Britain |
| When to send | A desk, a host, one person | A household, a holiday, a long trip |
Build a hamper: lidded, for a household
A hamper needs a container with a lid and enough food for more than one sitting. Here the hamper is a 14-inch rustic farmhouse crate made of stacked wooden slats, with a lid (shop the 14-inch wood crate with lid, $30.00).
Fill it the way the old hampers were filled, with tea, something for bread and something sweet. Mariage Frères, founded in Paris in 1854, scents its Marco Polo black tea with fruit and floral fragrances and packs 100 g of loose leaf in a sealed black canister (shop Mariage Frères Marco Polo, $33.00). BRINS makes its Strawberry Lemongrass preserve with strawberries, cane sugar, lemon and lime juice, lemongrass and ginger root (shop BRINS Strawberry Lemongrass, $8.50). Il Colle del Gusto, from Lazio, makes Cioccoarancia with bittersweet chocolate, hazelnuts and candied orange peel, using extra virgin olive oil in place of palm oil (shop Cioccoarancia, $18.00). Dick Taylor coats organic California almonds in its 65% Tanzania dark chocolate in traditional coating pans in Eureka, California, then dusts them with cocoa powder (shop Dick Taylor chocolate coated almonds, $14.99).
Together: $104.49. Add a loaf of bread and a wedge of cheese from a local shop on the day you deliver it, and it is close to the hampers Fortnum's describes.
Build a gift basket: a box for one person
A gift basket can be smaller and is often meant for one person to open at a desk or a kitchen table. The navy gift box with a magnetic flap measures 14 by 9 by 4.3 inches (shop the navy gift box, $13.00).
Inside: BRINS Wild Blueberry Sumac, wild blueberries cooked with Turkish sumac in a partnership with Burlap & Barrel (shop BRINS Wild Blueberry Sumac, $8.50); a box of six Makabi & Sons shortbread butter cookies made with matcha and toasted black sesame (shop Makabi & Sons matcha sesame cookies, $8.00); and Omnom's Sea Salted Toffee bar, toffee milk chocolate with Icelandic sea salt, made bean to bar in Reykjavik (shop Omnom Sea Salted Toffee, $8.49). Together: $37.99.
| Build | What goes in | Listed price |
|---|---|---|
| Hamper | 14-inch wood crate with lid, Marco Polo tea, BRINS Strawberry Lemongrass, Cioccoarancia, Dick Taylor chocolate coated almonds | $104.49 |
| Gift basket | Navy gift box, BRINS Wild Blueberry Sumac, Makabi & Sons cookies, Omnom Sea Salted Toffee | $37.99 |
Prices follow the listed price on each product page. Products ship across the continental U.S. from theambrosianpantry.com.
Which one to send
- Send a hamper to a household, for a holiday, or when the gift has to travel: the lid keeps everything in place.
- Send a gift basket to one person, a host or an office, when the point is a small, well-chosen set of things.
- Check allergies. Both builds contain nuts, dairy or sesame: the spread and the almonds contain nuts, the toffee bar contains milk, and the cookies contain butter and sesame. Read each label before packing.
Short answers
Is a hamper the same as a gift basket? A hamper is a kind of gift basket: a large one, usually with a lid, packed to travel. Hamper is the word used most in Britain; gift basket is the usual American phrase.
Why is it called a hamper? Merriam-Webster traces the word to the Anglo-French hanaper, a case for holding goblets.
What goes in a classic food hamper? Fortnum & Mason lists game pies, bread, butter, Scotch eggs, cheese, fruit and fruit cake in its early hampers. A pantry version keeps the shape: tea, a preserve, a spread and something sweet.
For gift baskets by occasion, see thank you gift basket ideas. The shop is at 263 Josephine Street in Cherry Creek, Denver.
