What are Longaberger Baskets?

Are They Worth the Money?

Honestly, I’d never heard of Longaberger baskets until my family and I went to Boyd’s Bears of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee one day. We had coupons for free meals, and a free bear for each of the girls, and it’s a 45 minute drive and sounded like a good idea. Longaberger representatives were there, demonstrating how to make baskets. In fact, you could make your own little basket for about $75. But they were handing out door prizes each hour, and we happened to win a medium Spring genuine Longaberger basket, signed by two members of the family. 

Along with our new basket, we received a couple Longaberger catalogs. And I was introduced to a whole new world. This is a world above Martha Stewart Living; and miles above my usual Wal-Mart shopping. Apparently, Longaberger customers exist in a world where it is perfectly reasonable to pay $100 for a small basket to sit on the back of your toilet and hold whatever it is you store on the back of your toilet. 

And then I read the Longaberger story. In some ways, it is a touching example of one man’s purely American entrepreneurship combined with European quest for excellence. Dave Longaberger’s father made hand-woven baskets at the turn of the twentieth century, when baskets were used in place of shopping bags, boxes, plastic bins and the other items we use today. In the 1970’s, when Dave noticed that baskets were becoming popular as a decorative device, he began making the type of hand-made baskets he had seen his father make. Years of economic hardship for both Dave, his family, and his dedicated little band of basket makers ensued.