(ENDED) Countdown Contest: 9 Days Until Christmas

I do NOT enjoy wrapping, and consequently, I end up doing lots of wrapping on Christmas eve. I do like to use pretty bags though.

My secret to nice looking presents when I have to use paper.....I have my mom make the bows!!!!;)

I'm not very creative but think the person who invented the gift bag is/was a genius!!!

Something I do is...wrap DD's gifts from "Santa" in a girly character paper and DS in a boy's theme. Then, I can avoid name tags - one less step is better for me!

My mom, however, used to have a great way to wrap the standard shirt boxes. She'd make them look like men's dress shirts. She used ribbon to make the placket and collar and glue buttons down the front. They were awesome and sort of looked like these on HGTV's website.

http://www.hgtv.com/holidays-occasio...ers/index.html

I wrap everything and since I've always helped my mom wrap packages and I'm now 40, I've developed quite a "quickness" about it. I have learned from my step-daughter-in-law that going to the costume shop and buying big rolls of tulle are a great way to decorate!! She uses it for decorating for parties, packages, and anything else she can put tulle on!!! Anyway, you can wrap it around the box after it is wrapped, a color coordinated piece of tulle, and then tie a beautiful bow with it!! Add in a little ribbon to hold on a cardstock tag and voila!! a beautifully festive package!!!

I like wrapping, but the most creative member of my familly is definitely my dad. A few years ago, my brother bought some of those light up candy canes for the yard as presents. Dad and to get very creative to wrap those things because they're such an unusual shape. So, he took a left over wrapping paper tube and a box and used those. Then, to keep things interesting, he added a few other decoy tubes to other presents. It's hysterical because he and his older brother now try to outdo each other with how creative they can wrap stuff, but decoy tubes are definitely a signature item in my family!

Here's an example.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...s/IMG_0001.jpg

You have to be careful because once in a while, someone will throw the present in the decoy tube, so the box is actually a decoy box!!!

I go into the living room that we never use and just start wrapping! It is much easier when I do it all alone and all at one time!! Lynn

sometimes we wrap in pretty paper, and sometimes it is a paper bag that gets cut up, decorated and then used as personal wrapping paper. The kids love to color and write messages on the bag/paper and personalize it.

It's a team effort at our house. It's my job to get clothes, etc. in the boxes and then after my DH gets the wrapping done, it's my turn again to finish it up with bows and tags. He puts an initial on the corner of the box after he wraps it in case he gets ahead of me and forgets what he wraps.

I LOVE to wrap! I set up a wrapping station in my basement and take all of my Christmas DVD's down to watch while I'm wrapping.

As for the actual wrapping, I always buy the wire edged ribbon from the craft and fabric stores. The Christmas ribbon is always on sale during the holidays and the price goes even lower after Christmas (that's when I stock up). After wrapping the package, I wrap a length of ribbon around it and tie a simple bow (as you do when tying your shoe laces), and then fluff and shape it a bit. Those shiny glittery ribbons look so beautiful on the package! Much prettier than the peel and stick bows. The great thing about this is, presents can be stacked, packed and transported anywhere and it doesn't matter if the bows get crushed. You simply fluff up the bow when you put the package out. Even better is collecting the ribbons after the package is unwrapped. You can roll it back up and save it for next year!

The end result is that you always have beautiful looking packages that will travel well, and you are recycling some of the ribbon!

Happy wrapping everyone!

I like to wrap....but I am like Lisa...sometimes I wait and have too much to do at once. I use paper, boxes, gift bags...bows and ribbon...sometimes I decorate paper. I collect things all year usually. I tried to wrap things so no one has a clue what it might be. I have even used a long sleeve tshirt as a wrapping.... For our stuffers and Santa present...there is always special paper just for those to make it extra special...I still do that for married daughter and husband and now there's the baby. :)

I wouldn't say I love to wrap - but I get a certain amount of satisfaction from it. And, I do almost all of it. I wrap the gifts I buy, those my Mom bought, Dad's gifts to Mom, most of my daughter's gifts, the couple of items from my grandmother (she gives cash, but gives me a couple of bucks "to go and get everyone a little something") and anything that my brother buys that won't fit in a ready wrapped box or gift bag.

I use a combination of wrap and gift bags - I re-use the gift bags for years. I like to use about six or seven different papers so we have an explosion of color under the tree. Bows and tags are coordinated as best as I can.

I usually wrap at the dining room table with XM tuned to the Christmas channel.

We tend to go a little overboard at Christmas and the gift pile leaks out from under the tree in front of the book case. It is a site to see!

I like to have the house to myself and put the gifts in groups, (example husband all together, 1st kid, in-laws ect.), They each get there own wrapping paper. Then I put very cute decorative bows on the kids gifts. They open in order of bow size the biggest bow is last, this is there big gift. THey look forward to it every year to put the gifts in the order to open because I have them intermixed all under tree.

DH and I have always wrapped all the kids' stuff, even Santa. Every year, even though we say we're going to get an early start and that we're going to buy less, we end up with a mountain of stuff to wrap on Christmas Eve. We lock ourselves in our bedroom and wrap like crazy until the wee hours. When the boys get up the stockings are full and a big pile of stuff has magically appeared under the tree. I honestly think we would miss it if we didn't do it.

My kids are a little older. I usually wrap a few presents and put them under the tree before christmas. But I use different paper( usually santa's are on the wrapping paper) on the presents I put out on Christmas eve, so it looks like Santa came when the kids wake up in the morning. Even though my kids are older, they still get excited on christmas morning.

I'm done wrapping :love: We get it all done before Thanksgiving, so we can deliver all the gifts to my parents house where we'll be for Christmas. I'm not terribly fond of wrapping, and the kids are too young to actually even notice how a present is wrapped (since it takes only a second to remove it!!), so I do the gift bags too. And the "Santa" presents are always wrapped in paper with Santas on it - original, I know ;)

Well normally I wrap ahead of time - as I buy the gifts - but this year I am behind. Still don't have the tree up and not a one of the presents are wrapped. I normally just buy 3 or 4 rolls of paper at Dollar Tree and rotate them when wrapping so that everyone has a variety.

I have to admit, I hate to wrap. Usually I procrastinate and end up sitting up half the night wrapping the evening before Christmas eve. Christmas eve we go to my inlaws and don't get home until after midnight so I have to get it done before we go there. Every year I tell myself to get it done early, but it just doesn't happen!:blush:

We really don't have a system or special way to wrap. I love using lots of different paper so it looks really jumbled up under the tree. For some reason, I won't use gift bags for Christmas. I'm not sure why, but I like to have everything wrapped in paper which is strange because I almost always use gift bags for birthday gifts throughout the year.

Thanks for all of the great ideas! I love wrapping gifts so that the outside is as fun and exciting as the gift inside.

Our winner is Post #37. . .Spring

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