I am putting together a dvd gift basket as a thank-you gift for some friends, with dvds, candy, and popcorn. But I don't really want to go with a trite basket. Any ideas for alternative packaging, especially something movie related? I'd like something I can buy locally.

A Big empty bucket of pop corn, just stuff it with microwave popcorn bags, movies, candy, etc...

How about a small (like holds 20-25) DVD shelf/stand?

How about Boondock Saints and a small revolver to shoot the television with when the movie is over?

Yea, I'd go with the large popcorn bucket idea. It'd be good to get an authentic one from the local movie theater if they'd give you an unused one for free.

Movie wrapping paper maybe. I don't know if they make it though.

Unlikely. Sure, to you and me, it's just a paper bucket to be thrown away after you use it, but to the movie theatre, it's their method of keeping track of how many units they've sold. They're not going to just hand one over, particularly a large one without some register adjustment.

But as a separate business, (maybe a seasonal one, like calendar stores or the holiday storefronts for Hickory Farms) a DVD gift package store could have potential. You pick the movies and they get wrapped in a paper popcorn bucket with movie treats. Stock the store with the hot titles for the holiday season and cheap titles (the $5.99-$7.99 DVD section at Best Buy was really torn into) so you don't have too much surplus stock and give the option to wrap "bring your own" DVDs for a nominal charge for those people wanting to give less popular titles.

william sonoma sells a nice ceramic popcorn bucket. i have one, it's white with red stripes and "popcorn" on the side.

or you can get one of these act II buckets that comes with the popcorn...

I've seen these plastic buckets at the local dollar stores (without the goodies):


or you can get a little more generic looking plastic bucket like these:


Do a search for plastic popcorn bucket with Yahoo!

Another idea might be the little wood DVD/CD crates...

Thanks for squashing possibilities, Killjoy.

If it's coming down to the bottom line maybe you could just buy a large popcorn and ask them to just give you the bucket.

That's Killgore.
hgar78's recommendation of the ActII popcorn bucket can usually be found at Blockbuster or Hollywood video. Or maybe something can be found at party stores like Paper Warehouse. Didn't say it was a bad idea, just that theatre's probably wouldn't go for it for the inventory reason.