wrapping!

[elfworks]

do you like wrapping presents? do you do them as you get them or all at once? do you just throw everything in gift bags? do you seek out beautiful paper or go for the bargain bin at walmart? can you make bows? do you theme wrap your gifts? (ie my mother gets one color theme, my sister another, her kids another, and friends yet another. but all the color themes work together...) do you use one paper for everything? are you a messy wrapper or are your corners creased and patterns lined up?

bottom line.... how do you wrap those goodies going under the tree?

me? i love beautiful paper and gorgeous velvet and silk ribbons. corners are creased and patterns are lined up. i love love love wrapping and make an event out of it. i do them all at once. and most of my friend gifts are baked goods. i like to go to walmart or world market or michaels and shop all yr round for great inexpensive baskets that i can decorate and use for baked yummies...

you?

xo

[sheepsnot]

I enjoy wrapping only in that it is a part of Christmas. I am no good at it and tend to use large bows to cover poor wrapping. If the item isn't square, it isn't going to look nice. 8-)

[daisylover26]

I LOVE wrapping gifts!! I wrap all the ones at our house and usually most of the ones at my mom's house, too. I have even wrapped gifts to me from my mom! (she'd put them in boxes first) And, the last two years my husband's boss has paid me to come in and wrap all the company gifts to clients (talk about a dream job!)

I usually wrap mine all at once. It's a dark December night, I've got the old black and white version of "A Christmas Carol" playing on the TV, the tree is lit and I'm sitting in the floor surrounded by rolls of paper, ribbons and tags, with a cup of hot chocolate by my side :D It's one of my most favorite nights of the year!

I generally use a hodgepodge of Christmas wrapping paper and I mix up my bows and ribbons. Just whatever suits my fancy at the time. I also add little extras to some packages like small ornaments or candy.

[digbugsgirl]

I love wrapping gifts!!! I only buy wrapping paper if I like the design. Right now I have so much wrapping paper that I won't need to buy any for a few years!! I didn't have to buy any last year. I made the mistake of buying a roll from Sam's Club. They are so huge! I've been using the same roll now for two years and still have lots more to go. I try to wrap each family with different wrapping paper.

I wrap whenever I can. If I go shopping and bring home a lot of gifts, I will usually wrap that evening or the next day I have off. Maybe this year I will save some presents to wrap to have a few people to come over and have a wrapping party. I don't know if I will be able to hold out, though :-D

Brandy

[sheepsnot]

I have to admit, sometimes the nicest part of a gift is the wrapping paper. The eternal kid in me can stare at good paper for quite awhile. I sometimes wish that world was real.

[Twinkle]

Wrapping Christmas gifts has always been a festive tradition for me over the years. Usually, I'll wait until a week before Christmas. I tune in a favorite Christmas movie or CD. There's a cup of egg nog ready for refreshment during my wrapping pary. Alright, I'm all set up now. Now I bring all the gifts, wrapping paper, ribbon, celophane tape, name tags, etc. All is put on the floor and I am sitting in the middle of the pile. This little party of mine goes on for hours. I try not to stop until every gift is wrapped and placed under the Christmas tree. Thanks for bringing up the topic as it has brought back many wonderful memories. :) :) :) :) :grin: :grin: :grin: :-) :-)

[AuntieMistletoeDear]

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y273/AuntieMistletoe/ElvesTangledGift.jpg Wrapping gifts is one of the traditions I enjoy most.

:-) I get right into it. I'm not at all talented with tissue paper and gift bags so if it isn't a large hard to wrap gift, I stay away from gift bags.

I like to disguise gifts if I can by using larger than required boxes to fool the receiver. I have several printed gift wrapping rolls and sheets so I can choose special wrap that each person on my list would enjoy.

I'd like to get a little more creative and buy brown paper and decorate it with various colours of paint using festive sponge shapes or cookie cutters with sparkle glitter.

When I was little my Aunt (who was a Home Economics Teacher with a few local schools) and her four daughters used to decorate our gifts so beautifully with tissue paper and hard cardboard to make them look like festive characters. They put so much work into them that I never wanted to unwrap them. (I tried to do the same thing a few times, but it didn't come close to what they had done.) One year it was close to Valentine's Day before I unwrapped one of my gifts despite my mother's pleas and constant reminders that there was a special surprise inside.

I finally opened it and it was a Fisher Price School House. I was happy to discover what was inside, but sad to see the gift wrap gone.

[elfworks]

here it is!


xo

[sheepsnot]

Here what is?

[elfworks]

my post regarding wrapping presents.

xo

[mrshfromjersey]

I like to wrap. I used to wrap as I bought presents, but then I forgot that I had already bought something and ended up spending WAY too much money.

I also like to bake for friends and family. I find a nice Christmasy plate or tray and pile on the goodies...usually some kind of quickbread surrounded by cookies and candy. I then wrap it with Christmas colored celophane, tie a small ornament (homemade or bought) and the recipe for the quickbread with a ribbon to close it all up. Last year I bought mini cookie cutters in Christmas shapes and made chocolate bark...some with peppermint and some with heath bar crunchie stuff. YUM

[sheepsnot]

Christmas music is the only wrap music I like! 8-)

[mrshfromjersey]

Shouldn't that go in the bad pun forum?

[sheepsnot]

If there was a bad pun forum, all my posts would go there. Except this one.

[dvdguy]

wouldnt this whole board go there?

[elfworks]

you and sheep could start one!

:D


xo

[Ervserver]

I also like to bake for friends and family. I find a nice Christmasy plate or tray and pile on the goodies...usually some kind of quickbread surrounded by cookies and candy. I then wrap it with Christmas colored celophane, tie a small ornament (homemade or bought) and the recipe for the quickbread with a ribbon to close it all up. Last year I bought mini cookie cutters in Christmas shapes and made chocolate bark...some with peppermint and some with heath bar crunchie stuff. YUM


wow I need to check my family tree and see if we are related :lol:

[TwinkleLights25]

Oh I really enjoy wrapping presents!!!!!!!! I wrapped several tonight, actually!! :)

And as for Christmas rap, well, you gotta love Christmas in Hollis, by Run DMC!!
It's Christmastime in Hollis Queens, Mom's cookin chicken and collard greens. Rice and stuffin' macaroni and cheese, and santa puts gifts under Christmas trees. Decorate the house with lights at night, snows on the ground snow white so bright. In the fireplace is the yule log, beneath the mistletoe as we drink eggnog. The rhymes that you hear are the rhymes of carols, when each and every year we bust Christmas carols!!

(I think I got the lyrics pretty close, :))

[devOn]

ya i like wrapping gifts..........thats if i make it look good *im not the best gift wrapper :-D

[Ervserver]

ya i like wrapping gifts..........thats if i make it look good *im not the best gift wrapper :-D


It gets torn to shreds anyway unless yer like my grandma who thinks she needs to save everything

[dominick]

You got that Grandma, too? One of these days I'm going to wrap her gift in duct tape and spray paint... let's see her try to save that!

[Ervserver]

She has bows from Christmas 1960

[elfworks]

i have only recently managed to break myself of the save-every-bow thing. only keep them if they are definitely un-doable and reusable.

xo

[Ervserver]

what about ribbons and boxes?

[elfworks]

ribbons and bows are the same thing and yes, i do save boxes.

xo

[Ervserver]

Nuh-Uhhh

[ChristmasFanatic]

Back when I was still able to work, I worked second shift and we often worked seven days a week and ten to fourteen hours a day and being the horrible gift-wrapper I am, I;d put it off until Christmas Eve! :eek: A few years of Mom and me sitting up until some unholy hour wrapping gifts I'd brought to their place, ended and I began wrapping as I brought the gifts home and that worked much better for me. I wrap nothing like Mom, who does such a nice job and makes everything look so nice and festive...with me, if it isn't perfectly square, we're in big trouble! :-D Thank goodness, a lot of thought has always gone into the gifts I give folks and they are kind enough to overlook my poor wrapping effort.

[mrshamm]

I always save the clothing boxes. We give a lot of clothing as gifts and a lot of stores don't give out boxes during the Christmas season for clothes anymore. It's great to just have the boxes on hand instead of paying $7 for a 3 pack.

[ChristmasFanatic]

Back when I was still able to work, I'd lay in a HUGE supply of boxes, so I could put anythign and everything in a perfectly square box....kind of helped to hid how horrible my wrapping is, when it's at least a square box. Sometimes, after wrapping for hours on end, I'd get so tired of it and with the boxes purchased having some very nice scenes on them, I thought....why waste this and cover it with paper, so I;d cheat occasionally with the last gift a person received and bow it up and call that good. Everyone always had tons to open that I actually wrapped with my two, well-meaning, but horrible at wrapping hands, but I'd give in at the end and cheat.....a little. :)

[Ervserver]

I don't ever pay attention to how well a gift is wrapped, I'm an ok wrapper only because I don't put that much effort into it. Don't seem that important to me.

[ChristmasFanatic]

I don't ever pay attention to how well a gift is wrapped, I'm an ok wrapper only because I don't put that much effort into it. Don't seem that important to me.

I pay attention, only because I tend to wrap so poorly, I always enjoy the look of others packages....plus, I love some of the wrapping paper some folks are able to find.

[Ervserver]

I buy anything with Santa and/or snowmen. I have about 6 of those Rubbermaid giftwrap storage containers full in the basement and yet I still buy more wrapping paper each year.

[ChristmasFanatic]

I also buy a lot of Santa and snowmen wrap. I like the paper that looks like it's from the 50s or 60s and the past few years, we've purchased a couple of rolls of the Rudolph and Frosty wrapping paper.

Several years back, I found some Hanna-Barbera themed tags....there was The Flingtstones, Jetsons, Yogi Bear, etc....I loved those tags, as they were the peel-and-stick kind. I've never found any more of that theme, but tags are fun to pick out, too.

[Ervserver]

Tags are fun, Im thinking of making my own this year. Something in a old fashion country theme

[Christy Carol]

I did that one year using Avery labels. They turned out pretty cool.

[Ervserver]

I use those and make my own return address labels

[ChristmasFanatic]

I did that one year using Avery labels. They turned out pretty cool.

Hoping I'm not showing too much ignorance, but what are the Avery labels?

[Christy Carol]

Sticky labels. They are mainly used for mailing labels. They are like the long white (sometimes clear) mailing labels that businesses use for mass mailings. But you can also get them in round and oval shapes and in various sizes and they will run thru your printer so that you can print different things on them.

Most printshop software has an option on it to print the labels.

[Ervserver]

Staples has a good variety of these and some in holiday colors

[ChristmasFanatic]

Sticky labels. They are mainly used for mailing labels. They are like the long white (sometimes clear) mailing labels that businesses use for mass mailings. But you can also get them in round and oval shapes and in various sizes and they will run thru your printer so that you can print different things on them.

Most printshop software has an option on it to print the labels.

Thanks! I may look into that. :D

[Ervserver]

Here is a page with free holiday templates to use with your computer.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/assistance/HA011530381033.aspx

[dvdguy]

neat!

[ChristmasFanatic]

Here is a page with free holiday templates to use with your computer.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/assistance/HA011530381033.aspx

That is very neat, thanks for the link. :P

[Ervserver]

Welcome...enjoy!

:wiggy:

[AuntieMistletoeDear]

:hello: Look what I dug up from the Christmas attic!

I want to get more creative this year with my gift wrapping.

On the first page of this thread, I mentioned the idea of getting plain paper and making my own festive theme paper.

I checked out the link for Christmas labels too.

I usually pick some up at Christmas Craft Shows, I am drawn to two types - Victorian style and ones that remind me of Christmas as a child with sleighs, snow or Santa on them.

I might make my own this year.

[Annette1990]

So many different ideas to wrap and whatnot. Again, I usually wrap and with the left over paper I cut a straight line and curl it so I never need ribbon. Looks great because the ribbon matches the wrapping paper...then of course just add a bow!

[emski4379]

I do enjoy wrapping and making elaborate packages. I ususally start off fancy, but find that I use more bags the longer I sit there wrapping.

[kidzrme]

I love wrapping gifts as well. I wrap them all at once on Christmas eve(except for the ones given out before Christmas day.) I look forward to it every year!

[AuntieMistletoeDear]

cheesy Annette - I'm left-handed, but I use my right hand to cut with and when it comes to curling ribbon - it's all backwards and I usually wind up yanking the ribbon into more of thin candy cane hook or tear it with the scissors. Although I haven't attempted it since College. I'm going to try the left over gift wrap idea though, that might work out okay.

Sometimes I buy those soap opera type gift boxes that are decorated and with just a bit of Scotch Tape or tied with fabric can be used for storing ornaments.

I think wrapping presents is as much fun as watching the receiver open them - it really gets me in the spirit.

A few times I wrapped gifts early and forgot what they were and had to unwrap and re-wrap them. Now I store them and wrap them all as close to the last days of the countdown as I can.

My husband is always amazed at how long it takes me, but he's glad I put my heart into it.

When I get gifts from my brother, they have the To and From names written in black marker (in large print too).

[thechristmasnut]

I really enjoy wrapping presents I always have... :)

[jolly elf]

:} I love to wrap presents. I am not very good at it but I enjoy doing it. I like wrapping in the living room when the is tree up and listening to Christmas music.

[Annette1990]

I also love to wrap gifts. I rarely use gift bags.

[debkeversole]

i love love love WRAPPING! i have even been known to wrap empty boxes! :D

[thechristmasnut]

i love love love WRAPPING! i have even been known to wrap empty boxes! :D

hehehe Ive done that before....cheesy

[pbrbullrider]

I let my mamma do it thank ya............... L* the family has banned my form wrapping gifts and other stuff.

Jeff G. "bullrider"

[Head Elf]

oh PBR that's a shame. Wrapping is so much fun. I wrap present by the fireplace by the tree while listening to christmas music. I told the kids down the block that I have a diploma from the University of Elves for Gift wrapping and they believed me. Their little faces were priceless.

[auntieclaus]

I buy throughout the year, but don't start to wrap until day after Thanksgiving. I love to wrap and each year I change themes (maroon ribbon and kraft paper, blue and green wrap and ribbon, black ribbon and cream wrap, etc.).

[Minta]

I wrap almost all of the gifts. I seldom use gift bags. I think a wrapped gift is prettier. i wait unsil the gifts go under the tree before I put the bows on them.

[Sunshine73]

I don't mind wrapping. I used to LOVE it but my mother, who hates wrapping, has always made me wrap her gifts as well (or they would be completley unwrapped and an unwrapped Christmas gift is absolutely unacceptable in my eyes) so I've gotten a bit burned out on it lately.

Anyway, I'm a nut about the wrapping and there are very specific rules in my Christmas wrapping world.

1. The wrapping paper must be pretty. I've been known to drag my DH to three or four stores in an effort to find the "perfect" wrapping paper.

2. There shall be variety in the wrapping paper used. I cannot stand to have all the gifts under the tree wrapped in the same paper (this also goes for papers with different printing but similar background colors). I will find appropriate papers in different colors and alternate them as I'm wrapping.

3. The wrapping must look *nice*. I've been known to unwrap and re-wrap a present if I don't think the corners are square enough or if the paper doesn't sit right on the gift.

4. One or two gift bags under the tree may be appropriate for those gifts that are exceedingly difficult to wrap, but no more than one or two. Said gift bags must be "cute" and must be coordinated with complementing tissue papers.

5. I prefer to tie ribbon and bows by hand but don't always have the time so bows can be pre-made but under no circumstances should they be smashed. I cannot stand smashed bows on a gift.

Yes, I do realize that I need help! :cry:

[Sunshine73]

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who fusses about the paper like that. My poor DH just shakes his head and goes along with me but I know he's secretly got pamphlets for the local mental health clinic tucked away in his glove compartment just waiting...

[novelist]

:tree:I love wrapping presents. I always stock up on paper after christmas, why pay full price when you could get if for half price, or sometimes less after the holidays.

[SparkleNana]

Wrapping is like so many things connected with Christmas! If you are stressed and rushed - it is a chore! If the house is decorated and you are rested, if Christmas music is playing - and you have paper and ribbons that you like... it is a joy! Oh - and tape. Miles and oceans of tape!!! And tags!

I do hope that this will be a peaceful, not a rushed, Christmas! For me -- that means getting things done way in advance! Because life happens - even in December!:razz:

[SparkleNana]

Oh - I have bought some Christmas gifts. I have wrapping paper, ribbon, tegs, etc. How many have I wrapped?

Zero. :hello:

[Lanar]

I like to pick out the paper, bags, or watever the present will be presented in but the DH use to wrap and the last 3 or 4 the DD has been wrapping. I buy presents early and she is usually wanting to wrap before we are decorating. Helps out to have it done already!!!!

[ksrjreed]

DW and myself always have christmas paper hidden so when we buy things we wrap as we go, the only problem it makes us want Christmas to come faster so we can see our childrens faces when they open presents.

[Mumof2]

I love to wrap,I wrap everyones in different colors,with bows and homemade tags.lots of raffia.my kids like to make the tags the best ,we take a weekend in Nov. usually on my birthday or nearest to it and make tags all day..of course christmas music and hot chocolate is there too

[Iluvsantasandsnowpeople]

I Love wrapping though I will admit I am not the best But i also put everything on the floor, I was in a swap and my swap partner sent me a christmas wrapping tool box I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I use it all the time.
I buy paper that I like. which is practically anything!!
but I do have fun!!

[vixenlong]

Oh my gosh, I love wrapping presents and I am very good at it, if I do say so myself. I like to get everything together, listen to Christmas music and fix hot cocoa. I do this while the kids are in school so it is relaxing and no one is telling the other what they got. I sometimes buy plain red or green wrapping paper. I try to mix it up, but sometimes one color wrapping paper and one color ribbon looks so beautiful under the tree.

[irishgirl]

wrapping presents... oh how I love it!!! It is a running joke in my family.. do not let her near wrapping paper.. and ribbon forget about it!!!! I am okay at it.. I can't always get the patterns to line up but I do crease the edges and corners.. I love to make the outside as special as the inside.. I can make bows (learned when I worked at a flower shop).. I am addicted to curling ribbon! I love buying plain paper and decorating it myself with stamps and stickers.. I have started wrapping smaller gifts in scrapbooking paper.. it is fab!!! I love using unexpected this on the package.. thinking outside the box... but sometimes the most beautiful package is the simple one.. those are usually for my Mom!!!!:give:I wrap them over a course of time. I find it I try to do it all at once it loses its joy.. I have the tree glowing with christmas music on and a cup of hot tea.. heaven

[stoerkel]

i've never really paid attention to how I wrap gifts although I do use paper I like, try to go with coordinated bows & tags and neatly wrapped gifts. I think this year I'll have my shopping done by Thanksgiving and use that "shopping weekend" to have a wrapping party with a friend or two and get it all done.

[irishgirl]

A wrapping weekend, now that sounds fun.. with christmas music and hot chocolate and cookies right!!!

[angiejo]

I love beautifully wrapped gifts. My mom is the best at it! Now what I do is....wait til the last minute to wrap gifts. I buy nice paper, but I am terrible at making bows. I use bags often, but really would like nicely wrapped gift. I will hope to get some encouragment from this site to start early and do a better job at wrapping. Angie:snowball:

[bastones]

I LOVE wrapping gifts!! I wrap all the ones at our house and usually most of the ones at my mom's house, too. I have even wrapped gifts to me from my mom! (she'd put them in boxes first) And, the last two years my husband's boss has paid me to come in and wrap all the company gifts to clients (talk about a dream job!)

I usually wrap mine all at once. It's a dark December night, I've got the old black and white version of "A Christmas Carol" playing on the TV, the tree is lit and I'm sitting in the floor surrounded by rolls of paper, ribbons and tags, with a cup of hot chocolate by my side It's one of my most favorite nights of the year!

I generally use a hodgepodge of Christmas wrapping paper and I mix up my bows and ribbons. Just whatever suits my fancy at the time. I also add little extras to some packages like small ornaments or candy.

Seems a great time of year as well :). That's exactly or near enough to what I do. I buy different wrappings for different people (i.e. blue and pink, for example) and during Christmas Eve or a day or two before I like to sit with all the lights off except the Christmas tree lights and wrap loads of presents then - while listening to some good old Christmas music probably on my laptop sitting next to me... Lovely and spirit-filled time of year! :)