I shared a week or so ago on Instagram that the first Christmas I was living in Atlanta I had a part time job at Lord & Taylor wrapping presents. It was a gift wrap department with the numbered boxes on the wall and the customer would choose their number and we would deliver stunning wrapped presents. For about six weeks I was a dutiful wrapper and even though I thought it was so stressful to look up and see the long line of people I really enjoyed the job. During those weeks it was a lot like I was Lucille Ball trying so hard to wrap chocolate as they were coming down the line. A whole lot of mayhem and a lot of crazy customers, but it was still pretty fabulous. For a number of years after it I wrapped a lot of gifts with bags and tissue when I they didn't prove themselves to be wrap worthy. This year I decided I would buy a few, if no, bags and I would commit to boxes, gift wrap and a proper bow.
As the gifts pile up under the tree I am really loving all the boxes wrapped in different plaids with pink, green, red and gold ribbons. This year I chose to wrap the gifts in a variety of plaid papers which I found at two different shops. I got a few patterns from my local Home Goods and I also found four different patterns (which turned out to be reversible) from Amazon. I have mixed them with solid satin
ribbons and a few 1 1/2 inch plaid rolls I found in my ribbon stash. I am mixing the plaids along with the solids + plaids and it just makes me all sorts of happy. Since I have chosen to use my normal pink and green with the classic selection of plaids it fits in seamlessly.
I posted a number of images on Instastories of the packages I wrapped and you guys asked for some tips. I am most definitely not an expert, but I do love a wrapped gift and it isn't hard at all to get a grouping of stunning boxes. I would recommend either invisible tape or double stick tape which you will actually use less of if you can train yourself to use it.
First of roll out a section of your paper and measure the box that you will need to wrap by placing it on the flat paper. If it fits better going one way vs. the other flip it around. Cut just what you need as the goal is to wrap the gift with the least amount of left over paper as waste. If you have a mix of large and small gifts you can use the end of the paper to take care of the smaller ones. When your gift is wrapped my favorite thing to do is to wrap the box with a single tied satin ribbon. When the gifts are opened on Christmas morning I collect the ribbons to use again on smaller boxes the following years. I have saved so much ribbon the next year being able to re-use my ribbon. If the pieces are truly too small to tie on boxes the next year they can be used to tie ornaments or to seal up a bagged gift.
When it comes to color choices I really think the best option is to match your paper to your color choices. If you have red, green and gold for Christmas I would wrap the gifts in red and green papers with all gold ribbons. If your tree is blue and white, choose blue papers with all white ribbons or all white butcher paper with a number of blue ribbons. If you love pink and green like I do there are a number of amazing pink and green papers to choose from. I even found a palm leaf paper this year that would be perfect for that theme, or even to use if you are having Christmas at the beach. If you don't want to spend money on paper I love the idea of all the packages wrapped in brown kraft paper tied with a single color or two of ribbons. I also really love the one with the solid white butcher paper tied with plaid ribbon, its so fabulous and I may need to go for it next year. I found so many great ideas for you to check out and I loaded them onto this board on Pinterest so you can pin all you like.
Happy Thursday!
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