If you'd love to put a gift set together but can't afford custom boxes, or it's too late in the game to get them even if you could, don't sweat it. Especially if your products are sold online or even at markets and you're not sitting on a store shelf, you really don't need to feel the same amount of pressure to have customized boxes. Here's what we did at Erin's Faces instead:

Skip the box and grab the organza

We put a number of our holiday sets in green organza bags. They come in multiple sizes, and a bag can hold almost any combination you can dream up (a lip gloss trio, a mini and a full size, a candle and a lip balm), so you're not ordering a different box for every set.

Organza also lets you group things together that were never designed to be sold as a set. That gives you a lot of freedom this late in the year, because you can build sets from products you already have on the shelf.

Add a bag that makes it feel like a gift

This is my favorite part. A logo bag isn't the cheapest thing you'll ever order, but it's a great thing to have, and it raises the perceived value of your set. It's also a little reminder of you every time your customer opens their drawer, which is basically free marketing. If you order soon, you may still have time to get bags made, so check the timing with your supplier before you commit.

Here's how the math works. Say your logo bag costs $2 to make, and its retail price is $10. Include the bag in the set and take $15 off the set's price. Your customer is getting the bag for free, and your lip glosses stay just a little under full price.

The set feels like a deal because it is one, and you're not discounting the products you worked so hard to make. That's how a gift set stays profitable for you, too: your customer gets a sweet extra, and your products hold their value. Plus, it's a gift and it's cute - everybody loves a free bag!

Name it, list it, bin it

All of our sets got fun names, something like Mistletoe Ready Lips: three lip gloss shades and a logo bag. Then we posted a sheet on the wall that listed every bundle and exactly what went into it, so nobody had to guess when they were pulling orders.

We also made the sets ahead of time. Each one lived in a bin labeled with the set's name, and when an order came in, someone grabbed one from the bin and kept going. This was a big help with timing. When orders pile up in late November (yay!), you want to be pulling, not assembling.

If you're on Shopify, the Shopify Bundles app lets you create each set as its own product and pulls inventory from each item inside it. And it's free! So, for example, when someone buys Mistletoe Ready Lips, your three glosses and your logo bag all count down in your inventory on their own. Your December self will thank you.

Help people find your bundles

Once your bundles are ready, make them easy to shop:

• Put your gift bundles in your navigation bar. Give them their own spot so customers don't have to hunt for them.
• Sort them by price or recipient. You know what you'd spend on your kid's science teacher vs. your BFF vs. your mom, and so do your customers. Try "Gifts Under $25" or "For the Hostess."
• Lead with last year's bestsellers. Unless you have a new product to feature, put the bundles that sold best last year first. A sales-by-product report from Black Friday into mid-December will show you what they were.

It's game time, folks. You've got this!

If you want support from someone who has navigated the realities of building, scaling, and eventually selling a product-based business, you can learn more about coaching with me here.