MEDIA

Gift Basketeers’ Guide: The gift basket business is apparently booming, enough so that a Costa Mesa company has put out a resource guide for people who arrange the baskets. It lists more than 1,000 manufacturers, suppliers and distributors in the United States and Canada.

Lisa Hughes Anderson, 36, owner of the Gift Basket Headquarters in Costa Mesa, said she compiled the guide because she was continually looking for resources for her own 6-year-old business.

Gift basket makers are called upon to create some very specialized items, Anderson said: baskets for new mothers, pet owners, executives and golfers. Finding that gourmet dog treat or Harley-Davidson snack mix can take some searching.

About 120 copies of the $29.95 directory have sold in the month since its publication, Anderson said. To date, she has brought it to one trade show. But Anderson will soon begin advertising in a trade magazine and by direct mail, and she said she expects sales to grow.