You probably shuddered when you read the word Christmas there, as sure we haven't even had our summer yet!At BasketsGalore we always have Christmas in the back of our minds as it's our busiest time of year & we have to be super organised.We plan to take the Christmas photography during the month of June and so up until now have been collecting samples of potential new products and proactively sourcing ones we would like to include in our 2015 Christmas Hamper range.We currently have a big tub of goodies sitting in the office as we often get samples dropped in or posted to us. We work through all the product offerings and decide if we have a requirement for that particular product. Then comes everyone's favourite part - the taste test. We get everyone to sample the items and if there is more than one variety they have to rank them in order of preference. Sometimes the items look SOOO good that people pinch them for coffee break time before we've even had a chance to sample them. Lynne often has to rescue chocolates and biscuits from the grasp of hungry employees or at least get their expert opinion while they eat the samples! Taste testing in the Spring/Summer months is not so good for those of us working on our bikini bodies, but our arms can usually be twisted. It's all in the name of ensuring the best product selection for you our lovely customers after all.Another item we are currently sourcing for Christmas is ribbon. Yes every gift basket and hamper has ribbon attached and we need to have a range of colours, styles and textures to suit all occasions. Up until now we have sourced a variety of different ones from wholesalers, but now we want to streamline this further by having 1 main ribbon and then all the other colours/styles will be supporting ones. Having 1 main ribbon type means we have a requirement for miles and miles of the stuff and so we have approached manufacturers directly to produce this for us. There has been A LOT of research into this and Lynne tells me "you wouldn't believe the amount of different ribbons out there". There are different colours, textures, materials, styles, thicknesses, wired or non-wired versions.product samples and ribbonHave you ever had to research new products and did you discover any hidden gems?