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Wrapping Paper

Wrapping Paper

Do you tend to use the same, different or unusual wrapping paper when preparing gifts for others? In the days when we gave out gifts it really did not matter, for now, when we do hand them out I leave that all up to my wife.

Paper Wrapping

For ordinary presents, we use off-the-shelf wrapping paper. For special occasions like Christmas, I often use fabric, cloth ribbon rather than paper ribbon, hand-stamped paper, or something unusual like the comics from the newspaper.

My last ex-husband and his best friend had an ongoing contest to see who could create the most outrageous "gift wrap" for the most extraordinary gift. One year, a very expensive depth-finder was encased in a concrete block ("don't use a sledgehammer"), while another gift was actually buried 3-feet-deep in the backyard and had to be found with an encrypted map. Very fun, but very time consuming and expensive.

Wrapping Paper Christmas

I never thought of using cloth for wrapping presents. That's a brilliant idea. I'm boring, I guess. I use regular off the shelf wrapping paper, but I try to incorporate variety. If I have several gifts for one person, I try not to wrap them all in the same paper. It just seems to send more of a message that I spent more time on it and actually put some thought into it. At work, we had girls make wrapping paper with craft roll paper and they stamped it to decorate it.

Paper Wrapping

I always try to have fun with it. I just use basic off the shelf wrapping paper, but I try to make the gift as unrecognizable as possible. For example, I got my mother a fur coat for Christmas, and put it in a bag and taped it to the side of an old refrigerator box. My brother got some video games in a shoebox, but I took 10 pound weights from our home gym and put them in the box as well. As far as wrapping paper goes, I like the pretty foil ones, the single color paper that's really shiny.

Paper Wrapping

I think that's so much fun! I still remember one year (when I was maybe 10) when my sister got me a paperback book, and she taped legos all over it before wrapping. I was so curious as to what it was!

I use regular paper, but I definitely like variety, and shiny or cloth bows. I like to make the gifts look special, it's fun. Farseer, do you just buy Christmas-themed cloth and use only ribbon to keep it on the gift, or do you use tape or something else? That does sound fun.

Wrapping Paper

Again, this pretty much depends on how much time I have left myself to do the wrapping. Typically, I love to push off the wrapping until the last minute. This creates a lot of problems like; do I have enough wrapping paper, do I have scissors, do I have enough tape and whatelse can I use for wrapping paper when I run out? Here are my top five anti-Martha Stewart wrapping moments:

Old Computer Paper (printed on green and white banded tractor fed paper)
Packing Paper (complete with my own pathetic art work)
Grocery Sacks (cut up and looked like postal box wrapping...complete with "to" and "from" addresses)
Happy B-day Gift Wrap (justified in my mind based on religious reasons)
Hid the gifts around the house and used a Easter Egg Hunt Theme (gifts unwrapped)

The last several years I have allowed myself to have the department stores to take care of the wrapping for me. Probably a wise choice and has allowed me to remain married. However, I usually hand make any cards that go out, as I hate paying Hallmark.

Edited: Vincenzo on 11th Dec, 2006 - 6:00am