Image via Elena Kovyrzina
As a little girl, I remember watching the gifts multiply as Christmas drew near. Each beautifully wrapped package was touched and shaken as I attempted to guess what it held. And oh, but those gift bags! Gift bags were the best of all — I sneakily discovered that the tissue paper could be carefully lifted to reveal the present hiding beneath!
Later, when I began to wrap gifts for others, my attempts to emulate the wondeful gift-wrapping skills of my mother became a mess of wrinkled paper, torn ribbon, and sticky tape. I realized that gift-wrapping was no piece of cake! So I started reaching for those lovely little gift bags. Plop in the present, crumple some tissue paper on top, and voila!
But there is something nice about a pretty, carefully wrapped package, though what is on the outside doesn’t matter nearly so much as the inside. Thankfully, my wrapping skills have improved in recent years and I now enjoy finding creative and unique ideas to help me get started. Here are some I ideas I plan to try this year!
Image via Pretty Petals
Embellishments such as cloth flowers or lace and ribbon can add a touch of beauty to even the plainest of paper.
Image via 30s Magazine
Add a page from an old book to some brown paper for a vintage feel. This would be perfect for the reader in your family!
Image via Style Me Pretty/Dawn E. Roscoe Photography
There are other ingenious alternatives to traditional wrapping paper–such as maps, newspaper, or even sheet music.
Images via Country Living
Image via Babble
Paper itself doesn’t necessarily have to be used at all. Cloth wrapping is lovely AND reusable!
While we know that Christmas isn’t about things, exchanging gifts is a small way to show love and appreciation to our friends and family members! Do you have any gift wrapping tips? We’d love to hear them! Feel free to share in the comment section below.