Where do the gift basket names come from?
We've used the much loved names of Santa's eight Reindeer, first used by Clement Clarke Moore in his poem 'A Visit from St. Nicholas', which is also known as 'The Night Before Christmas' from its first line.

The poem was first published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel on December 23, 1823, and was reprinted frequently thereafter with no name attached. Authorship was later attributed to Clement Clarke Moore and the poem was included in an anthology of his works, but his connection with the verses has been questioned by some.

The poem was largely responsible for the contemporary American conception of Santa Claus. This includes his appearance, the night he visits, his method of transportation, the number and names of his reindeer, and that he brings toys to children. Prior to the poem, American ideas about St. Nicholas and other Christmastide visitors varied considerably.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

'Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! On Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!'

What do each of the Reindeer names mean?
While the names don't really 'mean' anything, Moore did name them poetically to imply how special they were.

Dasher, Comet, Cupid:
Names that imply speed, quickness, and flight ['Cupid' has wings].

Dancer, Prancer, Vixen:
Names that imply grace and nimbleness [a 'vixen' in this sense is a female fox].

Donner and Blitzen:
Originally Moore used 'Dunder and Blixem,' the Dutch words for 'Thunder & Lightning' in the 1823 poem. These were later changed to the German spelling ('Donder and Blitzen' - though the German word for thunder is actually 'Donner). Regardless, these two names imply power and strength.

So when Moore named the reindeer, he did so poetically to illustrate the spectacle of eight flying reindeer: powerful, quick, and nimble.

How did Rudolph become the 9th Reindeer?
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was a character invented in 1939 by Robert May, an employee of the Montgomery Ward department store chain. Rudolph appeared in a give-away promotional booklet for the Christmas holiday season that year and became enormously popular through the years. According to newspaper reports of the time, the eight other reindeer 'used to laugh and call him names' and wouldn't let him play any 'reindeer games'.

This all changed one 'foggy Christmas night' (media reports differ as to exactly which Christmas that was), but it is known that Rudolph (with his shiny nose) jumped in to lend a hand to enable Santa to deliver his Christmas gifts. That seemed to go down well with the other reindeer who were giving him a hard time, because from that time on, the other reindeer accepted Rudolph and he is now known as the 9th reindeer.

A 'Partridge' and more...
The names for 3 baskets come from 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' - an English Christmas carol which enumerates a series of grandiose gifts given on each of the twelve days of Christmas. It's cumulative song, meaning that each verse is built on top of the previous verses. There are twelve verses, each describing a gift given by 'my true love' on one of the twelve days of Christmas.

The date of the song's first performance is not known, though it was used in European and Scandinavian traditions as early as the 16th century. 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' was a children's rhyme, and was published in a book called Mirth without Mischief in London around 1780. It was originally a memory and forfeit game and was played by gathering a circle of players, where each person took it in turns to say the first line of the rhyme. When it is the first player's turn again he says the second line of the verse and so on.

Years later the game and rhyme were adopted by Lady Gomme (an English collector of folktales and rhymes) as a rhyme that 'the whole family could have fun singing every twelfth night before Christmas before eating mince pies and twelfth cake'. The last verse says:

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave (sent) to me

Twelve drummers drumming
Eleven pipers piping
Ten lords a-leaping
Nine ladies dancing
Eight maids a-milking
Seven swans a-swimming
Six geese a-laying
Five golden (gold) rings
Four calling (colly) birds
Three french hens
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree

It has been suggested by a number of sources over the years that the pear tree is in fact supposed to be perdrix, French for partridge and pronounced per-dree, and was simply copied down incorrectly when the oral version of the game was transcribed. The original line would have been: 'A partridge, une perdrix.'

The most common modern day error occurs in the 4th verse. This was originally colly (or collie) birds, meaning 'black as coal', which would indicate a blackbird or crow. Also, the 5 golden rings may originally have referred to the rings around a bird's neck, such as a pheasant; this would be consistent with the fact that the other six of the first seven verses also refer to birds.