Meet the folks in the big leagues, those making hundreds or thousands of packages. They share what goes into commercial gift baskets

You know those ads for those gorgeous mishloach manos packages you see everywhere in Adar? The ones that make you wish you had friends who loved you that much? Ever wonder who’s buying those packages? Who’s getting them? And who are the people who make them?

Well, your neighbors probably aren’t going to send you a grandfather clock filled with Belgian chocolate. (Did all that flour you lent make you hopeful?) Those super-fancy arrangements are sent by organizations to thank doctors for life-saving services or politicians for supporting an important bit of legislation, by organizations strengthening relationships with their donors, and by businesses showing appreciation for clients and employees.

That’s not to say people never send commercial gift baskets to friends and family. (There is hope for those Belgian chocolates!) “A gift is a sentiment,” says Eli Oelbaum of Broadway Basketeers. He would know. Broadway Basketeers ships thousands of gift baskets year-round, and those baskets express everything from appreciation for an employee to sympathy for a loss, or just plain old love for a family member.

“People want to show appreciation to their clients and employees,” agrees Ruchie Markowitz of Glitz Gifts, a gift and home decor store in Boro Park. “They like to give at this time of year, when people are focused on mishloach manos. They don’t need to spend too much time deciding what to create — we have a wide variety of ready gift packages to select from, which makes it as simple as it gets.”

While there’s nothing like the personal touch, a ready-made gift basket is sometimes your best option for pampering your parents in Punxatawney or your best friend in Brooklyn — when you live in Berlin.

Or, say, your young’uns in Yerushalayim. Esty Guttman of Greenberry says the client base for her Jerusalem-based gourmet breakfast packages is almost entirely retail — and 95 percent of the orders come from abroad. That’s consistent year-round, but her order volume and production increase dramatically for Purim.

“It’s a virtual hug,” she says. “Purim’s in the last stretch before Pesach, when people really need that touch from home.”