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Gift Wrapping Ideas for Interesting Gifts

Gift Wrapping Ideas

This is a topic close to my heart. In fact I could wax on all day about paper styles, colours and gift wrapping ideas because it really is an endless topic and I am a chatter box to that helps. It would all be my own opinion of course though I do have plenty of experience.

The purpose of gift wrapping is to thril and excite - Parade Handmade

Firstly the purpose of gift wrapping presents in my opinion is to thrill and excite the recipient. To do this you employ everything at your disposal.. Your knowledge of the person, their likes and dislikes, dreams, wishes and sometimes you even know their desires. Well maybe one or two..

You use that information to choose your gift (also the information your purse gives you) and then you find a good way of presenting the gift to heighten the thrill.. By means of a surprise for example so you hide it in a box or wrap it in gift wrapping paper. The wrapping is a huge part of the gifting experience but it is not that hard to do.
You can personalise the gift to make it more suitable and special to the person in question. I am not a lover of personalising certain items with initials. It all depends. Journals, mugs, writing paper, pens etc yes.. I couldn't be exhaustive here so I am not going to try and it is only my personal opinio afterall. There are other ways to personalise such as with themes, colours and styles.
Another much employed surprise tactic is with setting and/or camouflage of the gift. Would be fiances the world over use this tactic to aplomb, it has to be said. You probably have a few examples yourself such as the ring appearing in a fortune cookie or the 'Will You Marry Me Susan?' on a bill board or score board at a match (AGHHH!). Hiding the ring in a bunch of flowers or a single rose is another. You get the picture.

So on to the Gift Wrapping Ideas

Do you remember 'Pass the Parcel'? The childhood party game. I loved it then and I still love it now. In fact I have done it with friends at some adult parties and it still gets the same laughs. To the uninitiated..This is where a number of small gifts or triffles really are wrapped in lots of layers of wrapping paper making the gift look a lot bigger than it really is. It is passed around the circle of guests to music playing in the background. Ground rules are set beforehand as to how long you can hold it before passing it on. When the music stops you start to rip off as many layers as possible before it starts up again and it is passed along to the next person.. The one who makes it into the gift wins it and that's it. Yay!

Advents Wreath Gift Wrapping Idea

You may not be familiar but the 6 weeks run up to Christmas is called Advent in the Catholic religion and you will be familiar if only to have seen the calenders in shops. Each day is filled with a treat, usually small sweets of some kind for the children to have each day. Years ago I worked as an au-pair for a lovely family. When the children were young the mother would suspend an advents wreath horizontally from a high beam under the stairs in the hall (they had the room). From there she would hang colour coded little wrapped gifts and sweets for the children and me too!! Such a big job. That's a lot of wrapping though they were tiny. Wow! Such a thrill. I'll never forget it. So a version of that would be good but obviously not for spiritual reasons. For gifting and thrilling ideas.

The next great gifting thing for me is medleys. Yes, medleys. I share my love of hampers and medleys with a good friend of mine. It is not always appropriate to give huge presents or even a stand alone fantastic thing. People have so much these days and there comes a time in your life when you have everything you really need or can get everything you really would like yourself. So, I love to get a few little things together in a box to appeal to someones taste buds or sense of fun. I would pop a few different things in that I think they would like such as their favourite biscuits, jam, olives, olive oil or sweets. etc. A pack of greeting cards featuring a theme they enjoy such as flowers. A book, a bookmark, a pair of soft gloves or a new scarf in their favourite colour etc. Three or four little gifts all wrapped up in a box make a gorgeous smorgesboard of lovely things for someone. These can be popped into a basket, bowl or bag and loosely covered with shredded paper, scrunched up tissue paper or packed with straw etc. Easy. Tie on a tag with raffia and voila!

If you need a box you can find a cardboard box of suitable size around the house. Then undo it at the seams and put it back together inside out. We do this with some of our packaging as an Eco friendly way of reusing perfect little boxes that have a different logo on them. The same goes for paper bags. You can redesign a gift bag by adding a sticker or a ribbon to it. Draw a picture on it even, if you are feeling creative.

Gift Wrapping Paper

Materials you might need for gift wrapping - Parade Handmade

Gift wrapping paper. You sometimes need to buy it. Especially if you have a big thing to wrap. If your gift is small you really can use anything. Magazine pages, newspaper as long as the ink is no threat to the contents of course. Wallpaper, recycled wrapping paper from before, part of a paper bag from a shop or household item, grease proof paper.. The list goes on and on. If you have time and some blank paper or thin card you can design your own with stickers, markers, rubber stamps. potato stamps etc You could lay paper out on the grass on a dry day and squirt paper with different colours to make speckled paper. I did this one time to make stationery. It is very effective.

Another cool way to make gift wrapping paper or even a picture for a child's bedroom and which is very effective, I can vouch for that, is to go outside with the children wearing old wellies and trays of paint. They just need to be big enough for their feet.. Then you have them walk in and out onto and across the paper until there's no paint left..  Alternatively, you can dip the boots and child and stamp the paper for a neater design. Of course with non toxic paint they could do it barefoot. Such fun! My husband did it with our big beautiful St Bernard one time and I still have some of the prints even though he is gone now.

You can buy blank paper stickers. All different sizes are available but you can get a single page and doodle on it abstractly or print a design on it and then cut it up to make lovely tape or stickers to decorate plain paper.

How to Wrap a Bottle

How to Wrap a Bottle as a Present - Parade Handmade

OK. A bottle. Off the top of my head. A tall strong bag easily found in any gift or wine shop. (presumed it was alcohol) Ha! A long box with a little padding. Wrap it in crinkly brown heavy paper from packaging. A narrow hot water bottle cover which is easy to make, especially if you have a machine or aren't in a rush. Twist a sheet or two of tissue paper or paper of choice around the bottle on diagonal and as the bottle is lying down. Remember to cover the base early on so the bottom area is covered by subsequent layers. Secure it all at the top with a little bow or raffia bow, flower sticker etc. (You can leave a little paper sticking up as it makes a nice flourish.) You could use a new pair of socks or a sheep of magazine paper, paper napkin, tea towel or anything big enough. If you have a triangle of paper such as a folded napkin or piece of material you can make a kind of neck tie which can be pretty. Then pop a swing tag with greetings on it.

If you are feeling creative and have the supplies you could hot glue some decorations to the bottle (Apply the glue to the decoration and then stick it to the bottle, not the other way around.)

If you are feeling very very creative and have the supplies you could do some glass painting with outliner and paint. Season/themed designs such as holly for Christmas, flowers in Spring, "Happy Birthday" or little paws or feet etc

 An instructional video about how to wrap a bottle as a gift - Parade Handmade

How to Tie a Ribbon Around a Box

A rectangular box, parcel/package or a cube or a sphere are easy to do in this way. Take a piece of your tie of choice but don't cut it from the spool. Do a quick dry run to make sure you have enough string and then cut it. So estimate how much you would need to go around completely in both directions and tie a generous bow then try it. if you need a little more try it again etc. Then cut off your piece. If you have a few similar presents to gift wrap ten cut a few similar pieces to save time. 

Position your gift to be wrapped on a table in front of you. Take your piece of string or ribbon etc and find the middle. Now stretch it tautly across and down the sides of the gift, being careful to be firm but not in a way you'll ruin the look or the gift itself. Now flip the gift over while keeping hold of the string on both ends securely and keep it close to the table so it will not fall far if you drop it. Whilst holding the string securely at all times, twist the box to stretch the string across the other way and down the sides. Flip the gift securely back up and tie a single knot followed by slipping a strand of string under the first line of string you placed and then finish by tying another knot and bow or simply tie a bow.

You can make another bow using another piece of string to make it look more generous. Use a contrasting tie to add drama. Use a double strand of string to tie the whole gift if you prefer the effect of the two colours. Raffia makes beautiful natural textured gift wrapping ties and bows. Don't forget to tie your bow from the side where you want the loops to be (usually the top of the gift). This will make sure your strings will fall down the gift and not over the bow when the gift is held the right way up.

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