THIS is present buying all wrapped up. Almost too good, in fact, to open. Bountiful Baskets is a gift delivery service. They send baskets, hampers and much more for birthdays, anniversaries or special occasions. And their offices near Durham Tees Valley Airport look like a permanent party.

The long table is a riot of pink bows and wrapping paper - a special consignment of girly cups and saucers for a hen night, all to be packed into big tins decorated with glitzy shoes. Fun but also long-term useful. There are racks of gifts, shelves full of bags in corporate colours, hampers, baskets, boxes. And lots of chocolate.

"It's a lovely business to be in," says founder Sue Womersley. "Everyone needs to send a gift sometime."

She and her husband, who works for Cummins, were living in America when she started a gift shop.

"But when we came back to this country the internet had taken off and I knew the time was right."

She started the business from home. With grown up children still in America, it was just her and her husband in a three-storey house.

"Soon every room was full of stock, or boxes, or gifts or wrapping paper. The garage too. We organised extra space, but that was soon full. My husband kept tripping over things. We couldn't move for boxes. Something had to be done."

So she moved the business into a small warehouse, which they are already outgrowing. "A hangar would be good," she says speculatively.

She has now been joined in the business by Debbie Wood and they have a team of part-time staff.

Gifts range from under a tenner - cuddly toys, posh soap, glitzy mugs - to nearly £500 for a top of the range hamper, complete with champagne, silver goblets and a host of other goodies.

They cater for any occasion, any budget and pride themselves on providing a personal service.

"When people ring up we often talk them through the options, so they end up with something tailored just for them," says Debbie.

And when it comes to the fresh fruit baskets, they dash out to the green grocers "because we like everything as fresh as possible".

They also try to use local producers and suppliers, local cheeses, pickles, teas and coffees. "But we'd love to have more."

As well as food and wine - cheese and wine is by far their most popular gift - they also have lots of baby gifts, including some lovely French toys and clothes. Tracy Beaker plates and mugs for girls, pampering products and gifts for gardeners. A row of pretty pink watering cans fill a shelf.

"They might look pretty, but they're also functional. Same with the gardening tools. Nothing worse than getting a fork that just bends when you try and use it," says Sue.

Many of the hampers also contain kitchen gadgets - coffee makers, cheese knives, glasses - items that will last long after the food and drink have been devoured.

Sue and Debbie love going round the shows and gift fairs picking out unusual items.

"But what I still really love doing is wrapping the gifts," says Sue. She trained as a window dresser with House of Fraser. "I think the look of a gift is what helps make it special and what makes us different from other firms. We think the presentation is so important. We sometimes have people ring up and say 'It's so beautiful, I don't want to open it'. And we're saying 'You must! It's got food in it'."

Sometimes they just get asked to do the wrapping, such as for a conference in Birmingham where they spent the weekend packing trays, plates and bowls artistically for a school meals supplier.

"It must have worked. He's asked us to do some more, but this time with a little more notice."

They've done hampers for many big businesses, including prizes for Galaxy chocolate, pitching against bigger, better known hamper companies.

"We came up with candles and blankets all in the Galaxy colours."

Then there was a hamper for the Labour Party. How do you make a political hamper?

"We did everything in red," says Sue. "It looked great."

They are just building up to their busiest time of the year and have already started work on hampers for corporate clients - 600 boxes waiting to be filled for one firm alone.

Sue and Debbie disappear back into the jungle of boxes and wrapping paper. It may only be October, but it's just like Santa's Grotto.

* Bountiful Baskets provide gifts from under £10 upwards. Delivery is £6.95 per order. Order before 3pm on Monday-Thursday for next day delivery.

For more information, log on to www.bountifulbaskets.co.uk. Order line tel: 0800-093-5023.