Gifting Pretty

For me, wrapping the gift is as important as the gift itself. I have a hard time unwrapping pretty packages. It is as much fun for me to see all the pretty boxes and bags; I guess it’s the “decorating” side of me. Here are some things that make a gift even more special:

• Crunchy cello paper works magic; it makes any wrapping job look totally professional. Use it to wrap a bowl of handmade cookies, a bottle of wine, a plant, or any gift that you want to make look extra special and fun. Even a sweater or a jacket with crunchy cello paper around it looks incredible. (I prefer the forty-inch-wide cello rolls, but they also come in thirty inches; you can find these on papermart.com)
• Use fabric-wrapped boxes or decorative boxes as part of the gift, and the boxes become keepsakes. I especially love them for baby gifts, and I’ve been told countless times how “our box” has found a permanent home in a child’s room.
• Wrap a gift in the Sunday comics. If the gift is for a child, it’s fun to put a box of crayons on top.
• Wrap a gift in craft (brown) paper and attach silk flowers and green ribbons, then add seed packets.
• Use charming leftover wallpaper (if you have it) as wrapping paper.
• Use old-fashioned Christmas tree lights (the ones with colored big bulbs) as wacky “ribbon.”
• Wire ribbon is great for achieving a clean look and forming perky bows. I also like grosgrain ribbon (non-wire) as it never loses its shape and it travels incredibly well.
• Display party favors in the same great paper; this “concentrates” the look and makes a big splash.

Embellish the top of the box to make the gift especially cute; consider some of these ideas:

• Silk flowers
• An oversize wrapped Christmas cookie or ornament
• Mittens
• Little toys, cars, paddle and balls, a colorful card with jacks, rag doll
• A baby bib, infant toy, hair ribbons, rattle
• Metal heart
• Measuring spoons
• Large sucker, oversize candy
• A picture frame that holds a special photo
• Gardening tools or seeds

Or just about anything cute you can think of!