When Anne at New Happenings at the Table wrote about her gift wrappings, I was reminded of some of mine.
I use different containers, also. When I put a gift in either a toothpaste box or toilet paper roll and wrapped it to send to my g-daughter, she asked her mother, my daughter, "Why does she do things like this?" I laughed so hard. I just wonder what other "things" I do.
Another time, I wrapped a suitcase for a teen. I dated her father and knew she did not have a suitcase and wanted one. For some reason I had a box from a vacuum cleaner and used it. So, I put the suitcase with wheels in the vacuum cleaner box. There was no joke or humor or deceit intended. Well, a box wraps easily and did disguise the wheels. About 15 minutes after she started unwrapping her present, we noticed she was sitting there with the unopened box and pouting.
When we asked what was wrong, she hit the box and yelled in a petulant tone that she did not want a vacuum and started to cry. Why on earth would we give a 14-year-old a vacuum cleaner? She pretty much kept acting up about it, never thanked anyone for the suitcase which was exactly what she wanted. She managed to spoil a large portion of the celebration on Christmas Day with her brattiness.
My own children have gasped or laughed and continued to open something strange, i.e., in a strange box. They knew me too well.
Sometimes, I wrap in a different container for expediency. It is easier to wrap in a square box rather than have to tape something around an odd shape. Plus, the shape might give away the gift. A can like Anne describes would be easier to wrap and disguise the shape. Sometimes, the purpose is to throw the person off. Most of my uses are just to get the gift wrapped easily, not to trick the person into thinking another gift has been wrapped.
Today, I am thinking of gifts and wrapping as someone had twins. Well, I found board books half price and solved the problem of spending for two gifts. However, I did not wrap them, just tucked them into a tiny recycled gift bag.
Your turn
What are some ways you have wrapped gifts, either for expediency or as a disguise?
My wrapping is fairly ordinary (though I do love boxes). My father excelled once, and once only. Shortly before they were married he came round to my mother's house on Christmas Eve and helped her decorate the tree. It was lunchtime the next day before she realised that he had wound a turquoise necklace around the top like tinsel...
ReplyDeleteEC,
DeleteMaybe Santa left it...just kidding. What a wonderful packaging your father achieved.
E.C. that is some cool innovative wrapping!
ReplyDeleteI think the most unusual wrappings I have ever done was for 2 different kitchen showers. One gift was a cast iron skillet with cornmeal, a butter spreader and a pot holder inside the skillet. I used a red and white checked dish towel to wrap around the front and back of the skillet and gathered it together at the handle. I used a rubber band to secure it and tied a ribbon over the rubber band. Then I placed 2 wooden spoons in a X cross over the ribbon's knot and tied a big bow.
The second was a theme shower and I was assigned "Keeping it Clean" I bought a mop bucket and filled it with all sorts of cleansers ,scrub brushes, sponges, whisk broom, swiffer duster, pledge, dust cloths and a box of garbage bags. I wrapped it in a white garbage bag tied an orange ribbon around it, then attached orange nylon scrubbers to look like a bow.
I also put dried pinto beans in an empty can then his a substantial check from Mom to each of my sons in the middle of the beans. The cans were then wrapped with unremarkable brown kraft paper with one of those super cheap stick on bows on the top of the can. I like to make impressive gifts look anything but spectacular.
Anne,
DeleteI like all those ideas for innovative gifts and wrapping. I think dried beans and money is a good idea and unusual. I am quite sure the sons like the surprise embedded in beans. At what ages did they receive this gift?
I think it was 2 years ago, so they were all adults.
DeleteAnne,
DeleteThanks for the response.
When my kids were little, I was all about wrapping presents. Now, I use gift bags, in fact my daughter and I recycle the bags between birthdays.
ReplyDeleteI do wrap my grandkids presents, I think that is part of the fun of Christmas.
Lisa,
DeleteI agree about wrapping presents for kids. I keep saying I am going to make gift bags. One day... Thanks.
I love wrapping gifts. I enjoy making them look pretty. One thing I like to do is open the glued seams of the box a pound of butter comes in, turn it inside out, re-crease and re-glue, and use as a box for smaller gifts.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why I feel compelled to say this, but what you did to that poor girl smacks of cruelty. She didn't know you well like your kids, so she probably didn't know how you re-used boxes, so thought she actually did get a vacuum...what an insult! But then when she realized it was just a box to disguise the suitcase, she probably felt like she was the butt of a practical joke, and was at a loss of how to save face. That's a lot of emotions on a highly charged day (Christmas) for a teenager to take in. I might have kept an eye on her when she first opened it, and said something like, "The box is a red herring, keep opening."
Meg,
DeleteI don't feel a bit guilty about the box. You don't know how this kid was. She made trouble where she could continually with no repercussions from anyone. She actually knew me well enough. Her father was sitting within three inches of her, so she could have nudged him or whispered to him. AND, she had seen me use different boxes to wrap gifts and had commented on this same thing once before. Oh, and her grandmother and all her family was sitting in her grandmother's house.
My children have wailed at the strange box. And, This kid was always in a wailing and pouting mood if she did not get her way immediately. Her grandmother tried to get her into a better mood. But, she was determined to be this way. Between my friend's daughter and his other daughter's child (g-daughter) being brats, this was absolutely the worst Christmas I have ever seen. The chaos was horrendous, and not happy chaos. There was no calming any of them down.
No one had any sympathy for her. You had to be there. In the next three hours, nothing pleased her.
My wrapping of presents is quite ordinary ...
ReplyDeleteI enjoy wrapping presents for the younger ones in the family, but tend to use gift bags for older members.
All the best Jan
Jan,
DeleteI think we all do that because children would dig right into the bag. Packages secured with tape and ribbon slow them down a bit. thanks.