Brown butcher paper and red ribbon, with hand lettered names, is how the packages under our tree are dressed for Christmas. You can get a huge roll (900 feet long) for about the price of one regular roll of gift wrap (link below). And the left over does not need to be stored for the next 11 months because it works for mailing packages, wrapping birthday and wedding gifts too.
This is a method that I started last year when I wanted to use my lettering a bit more on the packages because I hate using gift tags. I don’t have time to make fancy tags for all the packages and the store bought variety are either a pain to attach, look ugly, or cost a fortune. Enter black Sharpie.
I did branch out a bit this year with a few printed tags, because I really liked the Honest Gift Tags from Bunny Peculiar, but did modify the one for each member of my family. Nobody in my household was asking for a pony, not did any of them ever want one, so with a little editing I was able to tag a gift for each family member without the need for their name. You see, Bunny Peculiar’s tagline is curious image for crafty minds, which I saw as an invitation to get a little crafty with their free tags. So, instead of “Spoiler Alert! (It is not a pony)”, I replaced pony with puppy, synth and (my favorite) taco. The girl is always asking for another puppy, the boy has a few synthesizers on his list, and my man is always wanting tacos (I think he gets them at least twice a week – that I know of). The irony of these tags is that I edited them a month ago, and since then, we got a foster dog from the Norcal Weimaraner Rescue. Let’s be clear here, Foster Dog means temporary, right? But he is really great and wants to be a part of my tribe (or pack – whatever you want to call it). So, yeah, there might be a 3 year old puppy for the family gift this year. But, let’s get back to gift wrapping because I am not wrapping the puppy, even though I saw the how to wrap a kitty cat video on YouTube earlier this week.
When wrapping gifts, do you find that you have a box shortage? Stores used to give complimentary gift boxes at Christmas time without the need to go to customer service. Now days, with online shopping and many stores charging for boxes, I have found that there is a gift box shortage. Yet, my recycling bin is full weekly because as many of you know, I am a cereal killer. I have been using cereal boxes (and cracker boxes too) for years. At my house the box means nothing. You need to open it to see what is inside. Once wrapped, a cereal box, which is about the same size as a shirt box, looks just as nice under the tree. Viola, box shortage solved.
The brown paper is simple (and inexpensive when you buy the industrial bolt like I have), and dresses up nicely with fancy ribbon or baker’s twine. Everyone loves baker’s twine, right? Well, bigger boxes look better with something wider like a wire edged ribbon. The variety in my ribbon provides enough contrast that it does not matter that I only have brown paper. Once wrapped, you can’t even tell which present is in the empty cracker or cereal box because I want to be eco-friendly about my box consumption (and hate to purchase boxes).
Below are some links to items mentioned above. Nancy Ingersoll is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com
kraft paper | black fine point sharpies | bakers twine on a super cute wood spool
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