That's A Wrap!

[Mother Dragon]

For most of us, holiday time means giving gifts. And that means covering them somehow. So...

Do you wrap them in paper and add a cheap bow? Wrap them designer paper, and use your arts and crafts skills to make them beautiful, carefully arranged to display them perfectly? And insist they're opened carefully so the fancy paper, bows, and adornments can be used next year? Or are you someone who drops the gift into a gift bag or a gift box and calls it good?

We used to go for elaborate wrapping - which got ripped to shreds in nanoseconds. We switched to basic wrapping paper with cheap bows artfully stuck on. Finally, we decided gift bags were good enough and wonderfully quick, although some things had to go into gift boxes. Thank you, dollar stores! Anyone who opens a gift wrapped by my husband earns it. He uses almost a full roll of tape per gift.

What's your style? Why?

 

[Yanaka]

I do pretty wrapping that takes time, because I work at a bookstore and love wrapping! So I have the station and the tools, it's fun.

 

[Mother Dragon]

Our granddaughter, being the only grandchild, was grossly overindulged. After carefully wrapping the first six or eight gifts, the enthusiasm wore off quickly and the rest went into gift bags or boxes.

 

[neely]

When the kids were young I was gung-ho about getting into the holiday spirit and carefully wrapped all the gifts with special wrapping paper, ribbons and bows at night when they were asleep. When they became teenagers I would buy colorful boxes that did not need wrapping. As young adults I used gift bags stuffed with tissue paper. Now I buy gift cards with a little something extra to go along with them.

 

[weebeasties]

I do the very elaborate wrapping. It's sort of part of the gift. The bonus is that if they don't like the gift, at least the package looked AWESOME!

 

[Margret]

As I age I've become less and less enthusiastic about wrapping gifts. If I'm sending it somewhere via the post office I'll put a good deal of energy into choosing the right box, and wrapping that securely for shipping, but I don't worry about fancy paper that will just be discarded. When it's something I'm giving to my husband, he actually appreciates not having to fight with wrapping paper to get into it; he has pretty bad neuropathy in his hands as well as his feet.

On the other hand, I'm a sucker for pretty papers and ribbons.

Margret

 

[jcat]

I got out of the habit of using wrapping paper after seeing my m-i-l recycle it, meaning she'd iron and reuse it. Gift bags are so much easier to reuse.

 

[Kat0121]

I HATE wrapping gifts. I won't do it. That's why gift bags were invented.

 

[denice]

I wrap gifts for the grandkids because they are still little. Nothing expensive or elaborate though. I think small children really like something wrapped that they can tear the paper off of. With adults it is gift bags or gift certificates.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

no wrapping here, at all. i haven't wrapped gifts in ......well over a decade. i just prefer not to spend my time or money on it.

 

[Winchester]

Rick does the gift-wrapping here. He is such a professional and his edges even completely match. I'm always amazed at the way he wraps packages, even oddly-shaped packages. Me? Well, let's just say one can tell who has wrapped what. I wrap his gifts, but that's it.

And we have cats (I know, everybody has cats!) and so our packages always have tooth marks and claw marks and are torn at the edges. No bows, no To/From cards. We gave up years ago. But I will say this: Our packages are nothing, if not distinctive!

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

I use a mixture. Most of the time I use boxes and wrap with pretty paper and a bow with a gift tag. None of it is really elaborate, just pretty. I make sure the seams match and the corners are creased, etc. It has to look nice.

 

[miagi's_mommy]

I use wrapping paper. And a pretty bow, sometimes I use ribbon if I’m feeling ambitious and curl it. Mostly the gorgeous paper ever but my wrapping is less than glamorous although I’ve gotten better over the years.

Honestly, nobody cares if it looks hideous. It just gets ripped anyway!

 

[Mother Dragon]

When we were dating, my now husband put a much-wanted photo of himself inside a weirdly assembled cage made of nailed-together wood scraps and then wrapped it. It was totally odd-looking, very angular and irregular. I tried every way I could (short of opening it) to find out what it was. When I finally did open it, I had to get a hammer and pry bar to get the photo out.

One year, when our daughter was about 14, she wanted a bunch of albums (yes, the old LP ones). We carefully assembled them into a cube and put all her other gifts, wrapped, inside it. We wrapped the cube in numerous layers of paper. Thus there was only one gift under the tree for her. She was bewildered. When she opened it, we insisted she be very careful because we wanted to reuse the paper. By the time she'd unwrapped the seventh layer, she was more than a little annoyed. Add to that the fact that she only got one gift and she was not a happy camper. All was forgiven when she found everything inside.

Another year we hid her gifts all over the house. The gift boxes under the tree contained clues about where they could be found. Some were easy, some were not. The hanging wicker chair she wanted was the last thing to be discovered.

 

[Max's Human]

Cat shreds minus bows, tape open and sometime drowl for added moisture!!! And the classic ornaments laying lose here and there!

 

[Mother Dragon]

A classic, and so true!


CAT OWNER'S GUIDE TO WRAPPING GIFTS

1. Clear large space on table for wrapping present.
2. Go to wardrobe and collect bag in which present is contained, and close door.
3. Open door and remove cat from wardrobe.
4. Go to cupboard and retrieve rolls of wrapping paper.
5. Go back and remove cat from cupboard.
6. Go to drawer and collect transparent sticky tape, ribbons, scissors, labels, etc.
7. Lay out present and wrapping materials on table, to enable wrapping strategy to be formed.
8. Go back to drawer to get string, remove cat that has been in the drawer since last visit, and collect string.
9. Remove present from bag.
10. Remove cat from bag.
11. Open box to check present, remove cat from box, replace present.
12. Lay out paper to enable cutting to size.
13. Cut the paper to size, trying to keep the cutting line straight.
14. Throw away first sheet because cat tried to chase the scissors and tore paper.
15. Cut second sheet of paper to size by putting cat in the bag the present came out of.
16. Place present on cut-to-size paper.
17. Lift up edges of paper to seal in present, wonder why edges now don't reach, and find cat between present and paper. Remove cat and retry.
18. Place object on paper, to hold in place, while cutting transparent sticky tape.
19. Spend next 20 minutes carefully trying to remove transparent sticky tape from cat with pair of nail scissors.
20. Seal paper down with transparent sticky tape, making corners as neat as possible.
21. Look for roll of ribbon; chase cat down hall and retrieve ribbon.
22. Try to wrap present with ribbon in a two-directional turn.
23. Re-roll up ribbon and remove paper that is now torn, due to cat's enthusiasm in chasing ribbon end.
24. Repeat steps 12-22 until down to last sheet of paper.
25. Decide to skip steps 12-16 in order to save time and reduce risk of losing last sheet of paper.
    Retrieve old cardboard box that you know is right size for sheet of paper.
26. Put present in box, and tie down with string.
27. Remove string, open box and remove cat.
28. Put all packing materials in bag with present and head for lockable room.
29. Once inside room, lock door and start to re-lay out packing materials.
30. Remove cat from box, unlock door, put cat outside door, close door and re-lock.
31. Lay out last sheet of paper. Admittedly this is difficult in the small area of the toilet, but try your best.
32. Seal box, wrap with paper and start repairs by very carefully sealing down tears with transparent sticky tape. Now tie up with ribbon and decorate with bows to hide worst affected areas.
33. Label, then sit back and admire your handiwork, congratulating yourself on making good of a bad job.
34. Unlock door, and go to kitchen to make drink and feed cat.
35. Spend next 15 minutes looking for cat, before coming to obvious conclusion.
36. Unwrap present, untie box and remove cat.
37. Retrieve all discarded sheets of wrapping paper, feed cat and retire to lockable room for last attempt, making certain you are alone and the door is locked.
38. At time of handing over present, smile sweetly at receiver's face, as they try and hide their contempt at being handed such a badly wrapped present.
39. Swear to yourself that next year, you will get the store to wrap the darn thing for you.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

When we were dating, my now husband put a much-wanted photo of himself inside a weirdly assembled cage made of nailed-together wood scraps and then wrapped it. It was totally odd-looking, very angular and irregular. I tried every way I could (short of opening it) to find out what it was. When I finally did open it, I had to get a hammer and pry bar to get the photo out.

One year, when our daughter was about 14, she wanted a bunch of albums (yes, the old LP ones). We carefully assembled them into a cube and put all her other gifts, wrapped, inside it. We wrapped the cube in numerous layers of paper. Thus there was only one gift under the tree for her. She was bewildered. When she opened it, we insisted she be very careful because we wanted to reuse the paper. By the time she'd unwrapped the seventh layer, she was more than a little annoyed. Add to that the fact that she only got one gift and she was not a happy camper. All was forgiven when she found everything inside.

Another year we hid her gifts all over the house. The gift boxes under the tree contained clues about where they could be found. Some were easy, some were not. The hanging wicker chair she wanted was the last thing to be discovered.

I love your stories, Mother Dragon, thanks for sharing those!

When I was growing up, my mom did something called a "Heart Hunt" each February, where she'd make up little poems for all four kids, hand write them on little construction paper hearts. There were about 8-10 poems per kid. Each poem was a clue leading to the next paper heart, and at the end of the Heart Hunt, a gift for each of us for Valentine's Day. Each poem was different, and with four kids! A lot of work for her! Anyway, your last story about the clues in the gift boxes reminded me of it. It would be fun to have a Heart Hunt contest, or Cat Hunt contest, here at TCS! We could have an TCS Article Hunt contest; there are lots of poets at TCS... they could come up with the clues!

Back to your OP question, I've run the gamut of wrapping nicely to just doing gift bags.

 

[Max's Human]

OMG!!!!! I have Not laughed that hard in ages!!!! Only a cat owner would relate to the list. I even read it to my 80 yr old mother and had her in tears.....that should be posted anywhere they wrap gifts, as a reminder WHY IT IS SO WORTH IT TO PAY TO HAVE IT DONE!!! You are a hoot!

 

[Mother Dragon]

 

[Mother Dragon]

How to gift wrap a cat.