As a special addition to our member promotion services, the Chamber is now offering a free Featured Member Profile, which will be printed in the Chamber View and posted on the website for a month, then moved into a prominently-placed online archive for the remainder of the year.  To win this free publicity, just drop your business card into the Featured Member Fishbowl at each monthly Networking Mixer and be present for the drawing.  For more information, call the Chamber, 410-719-9609.

Featured Member

April 2009

Ultra-Personalized Service and Endless Options -
Baskets By Danae Sets a New Standard for Gift-Giving

It’s hard to imagine a more personalized gift than a basket by Danae McDevitt – a hand-tailored blend of the giver’s imagination with the recipient’s desires and interests, all presented with a professional flourish.

Her website, BasketsByDanae.com, displays a dazzling array of 182 basket options in 21 categories, plus three additional categories of special interest gifts. But Ms. McDevitt makes it very clear that this is just the beginning of the choices available to her clients: no idea is too small or too quirky.

It can be an overwhelming range of choices for some. “Often people will come to me saying that they don’t know what to give, and I’ll talk them through it, “she says. “My goal is to make the recipient happy, which makes the giver happy.”

Clients may come with just a budget and a gem of an idea in mind – or possibly with a special container in hand – and the brainstorming begins.  “I begin by asking about the person who’ll be receiving the basket,” says Ms. McDevitt. “Are they on a special diet? Are there any other health issues? We’ll talk about what’s happening in their lives, what’s good for them, what’s special to them. “

She’s catered to a broad range of client requests, with containers including baskets and tins, jewelry boxes, cardboard boxes and colanders – even a tackle box . They have been packed with treats ranging from corporate promotional products to fruits, baked goods and snack foods – from pet treats and toys to grownup toys for a bachelorette party – from coffee and tea assortments, to a basket of bottled water, to a birthday basket including cake and all the party fixings. The one product that she cannot include, she says, is alcoholic beverages: that would require a liquor license.

Nevertheless, she says, “I want people to know that a basket doesn’t need to be expensive. It can start at just $20. Special requests and delivery increase the costs.” If a client provides their own materials for a basket, she’ll charge only for assembly and delivery.

This active entrepreneurial life is a complete about-face for Ms. McDevitt. She jokes that she’s “lived her life in reverse,” first being a stay-at-home mom and only launching her business in 2000 after the death of her husband, when her children were grown.  

“In fact, my younger son suggested the idea of a gift basket business,” she says. “He said, ‘If this is something you want to do, Mom, I’ll help you get started.”  With her experience as a longtime member of the Catonsville Garden Club, and her talent in basket design, it seemed like a natural.

Her first effort, a “fancy gourmet basket” that she showed as a sample to a prospective client, taught her an important lesson. “He said, ‘I thought it would be stuff people like – Utz potato chips, Snyder’s pretzels – not fancy.’” She realized that a basket could contain popular snacks, as well as other gift items in addition to food, and branched out into more specialized contents, all tailored around the interests and needs of the recipient.

Each year since then, Ms. McDevitt has attended gift basket conferences The Rave Review Basket Connection, Inc.  at one point taking an award for an Outstanding Entry in a tightly controlled challenge contest. And in 2006 she was featured in Rave Reviews, the national trade magazine.

Her business has become a family venture, with her two granddaughters coming to help her organize products and pack them in baskets. “My six-year-old calls and asks, ‘Grandma, do you have any baskets to do?’ She wants to be a ‘gift basket lady’ when she grows up.”

As a Catonsville native, Ms. McDevitt took on responsibility for the Crab Feast in 2005 – a position that has since expanded into the Special Events Committee leadership. “I enjoy being on the Board,” she says, and she is a strong supporter of Catonsville events from Chamber mixers to the annual Women’s Expo. She provides the Welcome Baskets for new Chamber members, as well as the door prize baskets awarded at each Chamber mixer. In 2007, the Chamber honored her service with the President’s Award.

But above and beyond her civic contributions, Ms. McDevitt enjoys the relationships that develop through her business. She speaks with a twinkle about her network of colleagues, vendors, and international referrals, and her eyes grow passionate as she describes her customer service ethic. “I tell my clients never to hesitate with a request – something can always be worked out. I’m not satisfied until I know they’re happy with what I’ve done for them.”

 Past Featured Members