All wrapped up and nestled under the tree

“Thanks to my mother, not a single cardboard box has found its way back into society.  We receive gifts in boxes from stores that went out of business twenty years ago.”  – Erma Bombeck

Tip #14 - 9 Days until Christmas.  Yesterday, still feeling sad about the families in Connecticut, I attempted to busy myself and keep moving forward on the tasks still on my "to-do" list for the holidays.  I had a few more gifts to buy and wrap.  As I sit here this morning, I think I'm finally done with the shopping and gift wrapping.  Shopping for me is mostly done as of Black Friday.  It has been that way for years.  Typically, the day after the shopping excursion, I put up the tree.  Then the day after that, wrap all the gifts and put them under the tree.  This year, I guess a slower pace was in order to eliminate the rush, rush, rush stress factor.  All-in-all, I love wrapping gifts just as much as watching the kids open them on Christmas morning.

A few little tricks I've learned and adopted along the way:

Reuse gift bags and wrapping paper:  My mom, would have made Erma Bombeck proud!  She saved every gift bag (tag included), every box that could be used again, every tissue was carefully folded to be reissued the following year, as well as every scrap of paper that was good enough to wrap another smaller gift.   She taught me to always use the little strips as gift tags.  I have adopted the reusing practice and carry on the tradition year after year.  Yes...I even used some of her leftovers this year.  Even the gift baskets of little individual items are wrapped to help use up the extra paper she had saved.  I'm sure my father-in-law will have something funny to say about the surprise he'll get in his gift basket this year!

Use one pattern of paper for each child:  When our kids were little, I didn't have space to keep the unwrapped gifts hidden until Christmas, so they were wrapped right away and then put under the tree.  When they were old enough to read their names, I didn't want them to know they were their gifts by tagging them.  To help me remember, I used a little memory trick. The left handed child's gifts are always placed on the left and the right handed child's gifts on the right .  It took away the "now which color paper is for which kid" memory lapse on Christmas morning.  Now that the kids are older and wiser, they shop with me on Black Friday to get exactly what they want.  I have to wrap the gifts right away so that there is still an element of surprise for all of us Christmas morning.  It's pretty easy to accomplish since we are so tired when we shop!  Collectively, we can't remember what we bought, so the "surprise factor" remains.  But...they always know what side of the tree their gifts are on!

Wrap gifts inside boxes from totally different items (there's that reusing packing theme again):   This year I wrapped my dad's gift in a large cosmetic box.  The element of surprise as he opens it will be a nice laugh for both of us!  The sense of relief on his face when he finds out it isn't really make-up will be worth the extra effort to reuse a different box.  Double the gift - laughter and something useful.

What are your little tricks for making wrapping gifts fun?  Here's to wishing you joy as you wrap and unwrap gifts this year!

Just some of the gift bags and wrapping paper to reuse!
Wonder who is getting which bag this year???

My mom rolled up pieces, even the crooked ones-
"They can be used as tags, or smaller gifts dear!"

Yep, she was right, the three small square gifts
are wrapped in paper she saved - and just
Santa and I know what are in them!
I didn't buy these on Black Friday!!  Ho, ho, ho!!