Taffet Boasts Baskets in Sensational Realm

Chicago-born Helen Applebaum Taffet started a career in technology, marketing, and public relations to ultimately land in her unique, local, and award-winning space in the personalized gift and basket business.

Now, Helen’s Sensational Baskets offers delicious and creativity packaged gourmet treats, landing her as the recipient of the 2023 Spurgeon Richardson Member of the Year Award from the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau based on her distinguished career in hospitality and the impact she has made on the industry vis-a-vis her reputation for customer service.

The Grandmother Basket includes the book, “When a Baby is Born, so is a Grandmother,” and a onesie that reads, “I’m not spoiled, my grandmother just loves me.”

Helen’s Sensational Baskets designs fun to elegant gifts from Bar Mitzvahs to grandmother recognition, and top tier corporate clients. Helen also thinks outside the box with ideas like a “stuck in traffic gift” that would elicit an expressway smile.

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Taffet, who started the business in her home, now has a showroom, office, and warehouse space in the Roswell-Alpharetta area. In terms of getting started, she recalled,

“In 1988, I had a colleague who worked in apartment leasing, and I began to create Sensational Gifts for new apartment residents and referrals to apartments. And since I was always involved in marketing, I knew there was a need for quality corporate gifts to be delivered to clients.”

Now, the ideas are flowing from Helen’s sketch pad, as she employs a staff (many of whom are Jewish) of eight year-round employees and growing to 20-plus at peak periods.

Taffet is proud that Delta Airlines is a client.

Taffet has created thousands of corporate gifts, especially in the law firm space where she supplies 1,200 for an attorney group for their Sensational Holiday Gifts.

Plus, she even subspecializes for law firms when they reach out to their associates for the bar exam, final exams, and virtual meetings. She also creates Sensational Tax Season Survival Gifts for wealth management companies, accounting firms, and the like.

Momentum’s red bows topped 100 corporate welcome boxes filled with Southern gourmet treats.

How about her Sensational Traffic Survival Kit (featured on WSB Radio when the Buford Highway bridge caught on fire) featuring a bottle of Dasani water, stress ball, pistachios, Advil, granola bar, M&Ms, pretzels, Alka-Seltzer, Sweet and Salty Snack Mix, Chex Mix, and Skittles?

Yes, Taffet does “dish” about celebrity clients as she said, “When Tom Cruise was filming in Atlanta a few years ago, we created four Sensational birthday gifts for him. We have been working with the staff of Lego Masters and have been executing Sensational Gifts for Will Arnett, Amy Corbett, and Jamie Berard. One of our most popular gifts is the Sensational Coca-Cola Wedding Welcome Gift which blends the best of everything from the South.”

Taffet did these gifts for “Lego Masters” celebrities.

Helen is known for her aesthetic presentations, and said, “We are always shopping at The Fancy Food Show, AmericasMart, and our current vendors for the newest in gourmet treats, so our Sensational Gifts are all beautifully presented. Since my background is in marketing, I know how important branding is, thus we offer custom gift tags and labels. We carry beautiful, patterned cellophane and ribbons in every color! We also have wonderful baskets and exquisite metal containers in which we hand pick and package each gift.”

When the pandemic put the kibosh on Honeymoon Israel’s trips, Taffet created Sensational Gifts for them as an outreach project to maintain optimistic feelings. Mike Wise, founder and CEO of Honeymoon Israel , a large national organization that sends community-based groups of young couples to Israel, stated,

Helen Applebaum Taffet (wearing a pink flower) received the ACVB Award for her impact on Atlanta in the Southern hospitality sector and volunteering in that industry.

“When COVID hit in 2020 and we had to cancel two years of trips, we turned to Sensational Baskets to create meaningful gift boxes to send to all of our canceled groups to help them feel cared for and as support for their Jewish journey as couples. Helen built creative boxes to send to over 500 couples who were overwhelmed by the baskets and the meaning they provided.”

Helen’s Sensational Gifts are priced from $10-$500. For more information, call 770-587-5593, visit www.SensationalBaskets.com, or email helen@sensationalbaskets.com.