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My friends and family know that I love the holiday season – in fact, it’s the time of year when my three favorite G’s come into play: get togethers, gift giving and gift wrapping. I absolutely love to gift wrap. There’s nothing better than cranking up the holiday music, making a hot cup of cocoa and rolling out the wrapping paper.
Over the years, I’ve found that setting up a gift-wrapping station is the best way to stay organized. One year, I almost gave my grandma a necktie meant for my dad. Since then, I’m diligent about making sure I set up a proper wrapping station. Wrapping on a flat surface is key, so I break out my 4-foot fold-in-half Lifetime table before I go to work. I use one half of the table for actual cutting and wrapping; the other side houses all my supplies: ribbon, rolls of paper, scissors, tape, and embellishments. The fact that the table sets up and breaks down easily is perfect for me since I live in an apartment. The Lifetime fold-in-half table fits perfectly in my coat closet.
Once I’m all set up, I measure my paper before I wrap any box. On the long side of the box, it’s easy to measure the paper so that it meets in the middle and wraps around the entire box. On the short side where you do the corners, it’s much more difficult. I once learned this trick: bring the paper to the edge of the box and hold it up so it extends about 2 inches from the top of the box. Cut the paper, taking into account those extra two inches. That should give you more than enough paper – but not too much – for tackling the corners. From there, I start my seamless wraps, tucking in any excess paper so my sides and corners look polished and crisp. I’m also a huge fan of big, elaborate bows, and I’ve discovered over the years that using wire-edged ribbon makes your bows stay upright and look full.
After I’ve wrapped, I try to personalize any gifts with fun embellishments. For my mom, who loves to bake, I tie cookie cutters on to packages. Dad always gets the requisite golf balls. For my friends, instead of buying them a card every year, I like to print out photos and paste them on card stock so they can keep them throughout the year.
If I’ve learned anything over the years, it’s definitely that the effort spent to make your packages look presentable is valued more than any gift. The gift inside is simply the afterthought.