I love gift wrapping, and since the holiday gift-giving season is approaching I thought I'd mention a few ideas about how to spruce up the packages you hand out this year.
Maybe you have a really great gift already picked out for a special someone, and you want the outside packaging to look just as amazing as the gift inside. There are many gorgeous wrapping papers available in stores for the holidays, but those aren't your only options. Old newspapers or maps can be great ways to recycle and reuse paper while giving your presents a unique look, especially if the gift inside relates to the wrapping on the outside.
Road maps are perfect wrapping paper for a car GPS unit (they won't need those old road maps anymore anyway!). Trail maps of local parks or hiking spots are great for wrapping a new backpack or water bottle for an outdoorsy friend. A map of a foreign country would be a fabulous way to wrap a travel book for a friend planning a vacation to that country. Or maybe you've decided to splurge and buy plane tickets for you and a special someone to go on the vacation of your dreams. What better way to wrap up that special surprise than with a map of the city the two of you will be shortly exploring?
Maps are also great for presents that have come from a certain location. Package Belgian chocolates in - you guessed it - a map of Belgium, or a bottle of California wine in a map of the Napa Valley. And cheap reproductions of historical maps (or newspapers, or documents) are great if you're buying for a history buff.
For small gifts, consider using old postcards or photographs as wrapping paper - it's not hard now to scan an image into your computer, tile it out on a standard sheet of 8.5" x 11" paper and print it out on your printer. That way you can make personal wrapping paper that includes photographs of you and the person you're giving your gift to! You could even make the package into a complete work of art by covering a cardboard box with a collage of all sorts of photographs and other items like playbills and ticket stubs of the memories you've shared together.
If you're putting the gift inside a cardboard box anyway, why not try a really unique approach and paint the box instead of wrapping it? You could even paint a ribbon around the entire thing and a bow on the top so that at first glance it's a trompe l'oeil (trick of the eye) and looks like a real ribbon- and wrapping-paper decked present.
If that's not enough options for you, consider special craft paper, scrapbook paper, or fabric. They feel and act similarly to standard wrapping paper, so they're easy to work with. I just love Hollander's, a decorative paper store in Ann Arbor, MI. They have a ton of great papers to choose from that would make for absolutely gorgeous wrapping paper for special presents. The best part? You can also order paper online if you're not near Ann Arbor.
And if you have a bit of extra fabric lying around from an old sewing project, why not put it to good use? You can also go the extra mile and pick out some new fabric with your gift recipient in mind. You can even design your own fabric on Spoonflower.com and incorporate photographs onto fabric to print out and use as wrapping. Or for smaller packages, your standard home printer can print your design out on fabric - just make sure that an 8.5" x 11" swatch of fabric will be enough to cover the gift.
Of course, once you have your gift wrapped, you don't have to stop there. Why not use some creativity and create your own ribbons and bows? Use fake flowers or strands of beads to decorate your gift, or get some cheap fabric ribbon in the bargain bins at JoAnn Fabrics stores. Even the cheapest fabric ribbon looks nicer than the paper ribbon you can buy next to the wrapping paper.
And don't forget the gift tags! If you have good handwriting, why not hand-draw your own gift tags? You can also print digital tags from your computer. If it's a travel-themed gift, why not make the tag look like a luggage tag? If you're buying gardening supplies for someone, why not write the gift tag on a small packet of seeds and attach it to the package? There are tons of ways to be creative, depending on who you're buying for - and what you bought them. :)
Happy wrapping!
Maybe you have a really great gift already picked out for a special someone, and you want the outside packaging to look just as amazing as the gift inside. There are many gorgeous wrapping papers available in stores for the holidays, but those aren't your only options. Old newspapers or maps can be great ways to recycle and reuse paper while giving your presents a unique look, especially if the gift inside relates to the wrapping on the outside.
Road maps are perfect wrapping paper for a car GPS unit (they won't need those old road maps anymore anyway!). Trail maps of local parks or hiking spots are great for wrapping a new backpack or water bottle for an outdoorsy friend. A map of a foreign country would be a fabulous way to wrap a travel book for a friend planning a vacation to that country. Or maybe you've decided to splurge and buy plane tickets for you and a special someone to go on the vacation of your dreams. What better way to wrap up that special surprise than with a map of the city the two of you will be shortly exploring?
Maps are also great for presents that have come from a certain location. Package Belgian chocolates in - you guessed it - a map of Belgium, or a bottle of California wine in a map of the Napa Valley. And cheap reproductions of historical maps (or newspapers, or documents) are great if you're buying for a history buff.
For small gifts, consider using old postcards or photographs as wrapping paper - it's not hard now to scan an image into your computer, tile it out on a standard sheet of 8.5" x 11" paper and print it out on your printer. That way you can make personal wrapping paper that includes photographs of you and the person you're giving your gift to! You could even make the package into a complete work of art by covering a cardboard box with a collage of all sorts of photographs and other items like playbills and ticket stubs of the memories you've shared together.
If you're putting the gift inside a cardboard box anyway, why not try a really unique approach and paint the box instead of wrapping it? You could even paint a ribbon around the entire thing and a bow on the top so that at first glance it's a trompe l'oeil (trick of the eye) and looks like a real ribbon- and wrapping-paper decked present.
If that's not enough options for you, consider special craft paper, scrapbook paper, or fabric. They feel and act similarly to standard wrapping paper, so they're easy to work with. I just love Hollander's, a decorative paper store in Ann Arbor, MI. They have a ton of great papers to choose from that would make for absolutely gorgeous wrapping paper for special presents. The best part? You can also order paper online if you're not near Ann Arbor.
And if you have a bit of extra fabric lying around from an old sewing project, why not put it to good use? You can also go the extra mile and pick out some new fabric with your gift recipient in mind. You can even design your own fabric on Spoonflower.com and incorporate photographs onto fabric to print out and use as wrapping. Or for smaller packages, your standard home printer can print your design out on fabric - just make sure that an 8.5" x 11" swatch of fabric will be enough to cover the gift.
Of course, once you have your gift wrapped, you don't have to stop there. Why not use some creativity and create your own ribbons and bows? Use fake flowers or strands of beads to decorate your gift, or get some cheap fabric ribbon in the bargain bins at JoAnn Fabrics stores. Even the cheapest fabric ribbon looks nicer than the paper ribbon you can buy next to the wrapping paper.
And don't forget the gift tags! If you have good handwriting, why not hand-draw your own gift tags? You can also print digital tags from your computer. If it's a travel-themed gift, why not make the tag look like a luggage tag? If you're buying gardening supplies for someone, why not write the gift tag on a small packet of seeds and attach it to the package? There are tons of ways to be creative, depending on who you're buying for - and what you bought them. :)
Happy wrapping!
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