Holiday gift wrapping made simple!!!
Gift wrapping for Christmas can be a messy, tedious and tiring job. Especially if you are like me and let lots of gifts pile up before you finally break out everything you need.
Last year I decided to make it easy on myself...specifically my knees. An hour or two on the floor wrapping gifts was killing me!
On top that, I just got sick of dragging out the mess...then trying to find the tape and the scissors and the labels...it was driving me NUTS!
So I set up a "wrapping station" in my room.
It is still a mess...but at least it is an organized mess and it is all right there at my finger tips!
Last year I borrowed a table from a neighbor, but this year I splurged and bought one of those 5' plastic fold-up tables from Sam's. I put it up over the truck in my bedroom and I can leave my scissors, tape, and all the wrapping goodies all right there! After the holidays I take it down and store it in the attic with all my leftover wrapping stuff!
And while we are on the subject of "making things easy," let me share my little wrapping "tips."
Wrapping gifts can get expensive...with all the paper and bows and labels and tape. So I have found a few cost saving ways to wrap Christmas gifts and still have beautiful gifts under the tree....
First...the paper. You can buy lots of really pretty Christmas paper just about anywhere. And I am going to strongly suggest that you skip it...no matter how cheap it seems!
I stick with 2-3 papers, all in the same "color theme," and I buy it on sale at Hobby Lobby every year. Each roll runs around $3.50 a roll (after 50% off) but the paper is heavy and there is a lot of it on one roll....about 60 s.f. per roll. Look at the "square feet" on the rolls you normally buy...most only have 10-15 s.f.! And if it is light weight you will waste a lot when it tears!
Second, the ribbon. Again, I buy it at Hobby Lobby. Not the little "Christmas bows" but the big rolls of craft wired ribbon...anywhere from 2-3" wide and it is usually 90-100' long...that's A LOT of ribbon! I have some ribbon I know I have reused for 5+ years...and it is still as beautiful as the new ribbon. And since I stick with red, silver and gold, it pretty much goes with any paper I use. I just wrap the ribbon around the wrapped box, then tie a big bow...the wire ribbon makes it super easy to fluff and form to get a really pretty bow! After we unwrap gifts, I just pick it all up, roll up each individual piece and then throw it all in a plastic tub to reuse next year!! And the next year...and the next....
My daughter likes the butcher paper and twine wrapping. It's pretty...and it can be dressed up with candy canes or sprigs of evergreen! And it is inexpensive as well since you can buy rolls of brown paper and huge rolls of twine (jute) at Lowe's for a few bucks. Check out the huge rolls of brown paper in the paint section! Go to Pinterest and search "gift wrapping." You will find all kinds of beautiful and creative ways to dress up brown paper wrapping!!
Labels. Not a big deal, but having to find and buy labels can be a pain. So every year I wait until vistaprint.com has a special on their return address labels. They will usually run a deal where you can get 240 labels for $5, shipping included. I just order one that looks "Christmasy" and then instead of a return address, I order TO: on one line and FROM: on another. Perfect little gift labels that are super simple and super inexpensive! BTW, I always put my labels on the BACK of the gift, so it doesn't matter if they aren't all fancy.
Tape. I buy tape on sale with coupons throughout the year. And I discovered a nifty little secret. If you break away the plastic tape dispenser around a roll of tape, the roll will fit perfectly in your heavy duty desk top tape dispenser, which is a must if you are like me and only have two hands!!! This is awesome because that kind of tape is often on sale whereas the tape that is specifically designed for dispensers is not!
I know some people like to do fancy, crafty, scrapbooky kinda wrapping. And I think that is wonderful for special gifts. But I have 5 kiddos, 2 grandkiddos, my mom and Brian to buy and wrap for...so there isn't a lot of time for doing special wrapping on ALL my gifts. And I like to spend my money on giving, not wrapping!
Happy shopping and wrapping!
