Gift Wrapping

No one can deny it – there’s something wonderful about a great big pile of beautifully wrapped Christmas presents under the tree.

1. To make your tree look extra special, theme your gift wrap this year. Decide on one or two colors and buy good paper and ribbons in each color.

2. Spend a few months before Christmas collecting small boxes and storing them somewhere out of the way. Boxes are much easier to wrap than odd shapes and the traditional box-shaped present with the ribbon just right looks so much more appealing than a lumpy, shapeless gift. If any of your gifts fall into the lumpy category you can easily go to your box collection to find something just right to put it in.

3. Keep all your wrapping stuff together – scissors, sticky tape, ribbons, labels, pens etc. If you have to get up and stop what you’re doing to go and find something you need, you’ll soon get tired of the whole experience.

4. A wonderful piece of equipment is a sticky tape dispenser you can easily operate with one hand.

5. Get all your tags written before you stick them on the present. Use last year’s Christmas cards as a great cheap, environmentally friendly option, or simply buy some plain colored card in your color-scheme and cut simple shapes with a hole punched through. Hand-draw a few holly leaves in one corner for a personal touch.

6. Thin ribbon is far simpler to use than wide ribbon. If you want to add color accents to your scheme, choose two or three thin ribbons of differing colors and use them together in a bunch.

7. Those pre-made shop bought bows are so 30-years ago. Make a nice bow yourself (there are many instruction videos on youtube), or use some dried flowers, sprigs of ivy or holly, pine cones or acorns. You could dust these with a little spray paint in advance for a truly unique decoration.

8. Try to stay away from metallic papers. They’re difficult to use because of their slippery nature, and they’re hard on the environment. Any wrapping paper will do, but the thicker it is, the easier you will find it to work with. Make sure all paper gets recycled after the big day.

9. Only use as much paper as you need. Trim off the surplus paper otherwise the folds and sides of the present lose their crisp sharp edges and will look less than stylish!

10. Don’t try to wrap all your presents at once. Not unless you have a real lot of eggnog and a whole bunch of Christmas CDs to listen to.