Packages that are sure to please
There is nothing more fun than a beautifully wrapped present. I grew up in a retail family, and during the busy holiday season, we all worked about a million hours helping customers find gifts and wrapping up their parcels. When it came time to doll up the packages under our own tree, not a one of us had any interest in going the extra mile. So our poor tree was surrounded with presents stuffed into preprinted gift boxes with a punch bow harpooned through the top.
Call it unfulfilled childhood longings, but as an adult, I get just as excited about the way a gift is wrapped as I do about what's inside. When the package's presentation is creative, I figure that whatever's inside is almost like a bonus.
If you're in the mood this holiday season to make your holiday parcels pretty as a picture, here are some ideas to get you started.
Wonderful Wrap
If you're feeling adventurous, wrap your gifts in unusual paper. For instance, if your gift is for a world traveler, use an old wall map or pages cut from a vintage travel magazine. If the recipient is a kid at heart, use Sunday's comics or pages cut from an old children's storybook you found for a steal at a tag sale.
Wrapping a gift for a romantic who treasures the past? Scan old letters, photos and postcards and make a collage on the box. Do you have a music lover in your life? Wrap her package in old sheet music scavenged from a flea market.
If you are crafty, consider making handmade paper. Or, wrap the gift in brown butcher paper that you cover with your own works of art. This year, I want to surprise Dan with a gift from our two new kittens, Skunk and Stinky. (Trust me, you don't want to know why they were given these unusual monikers.) So I may start with a brown paper package. then cover it with the kittens' inky footprints.
Pretty Ribbons and Tags
Instead of defaulting to traditional shiny paper ribbons, tie up your packages with something truly inventive. Go crazy at the fabric store, picking out unusual ribbons like grosgrain, rickrack or pompoms. How about ribbon spiced up with beading? If you want something more rustic, use string, raffia or twine.
Likewise, when tagging your gifts, dare to go beyond convenient pre-printed gift tags and instead use something out of the ordinary. Try spelling out the gift recipient's name with letters cut out from a magazine, keys from an old typewriter or letter tiles from a discarded Scrabble game. Find industrial-looking mailing tags at an office store and dress them up with art paper, sequin or stamps. Use a vintage postcard or an old luggage tag.
Exciting Embellishments
Fanciful embellishments can be the crowned jewels of a pretty package. For instance, secure a bow with a fun costume-jewelry brooch or a rhinestone earring. Make flower petals out of art paper or lightweight fabric and find an unusual metal brad to serve as its center. Try a cluster of jingle bells in place of a bow. If you love nature, insert treasures from outdoors into your bow, like a sprig of holly, a bunch of mini pinecones or a pretty twig spray-painted silver.
Don't Forget a Suprise
One fun way to delight your loved ones is to include a mini present in your packaging. If you're giving a gift to a dog lover, tie the package up with a collar or leash instead of a ribbon. For the cook, tie on a fun kitchen gadget like a cookie cutter or measuring spoons. Do you know someone who loves to read? Use a pretty bookmark as a gift tag. If you have a friend who loves antiquities, tie on a treasure you found at an antique store, like a child's silver fork holding with the gift tag secured in its tines.
