When you’re a kid, you barely noticed the wrapping on a gift on Christmas morning while you’re tearing it open. But as you get older, wrapping makes all the difference when giving someone a present. So, what’s the right way to wrap so no one would want to rip it up? Lifestyle contributor Susie Coelho talks to “Today” about how to perfect your wrapping technique.
Why spend time wrapping
The first thing to know about wrapping gifts is that regardless of what the gift is how you present it makes the difference between having it be a generic gift that anyone could have given or having it be a reflection of you, your creativeness and your personal style, which adds to both the delight of giving and receiving.
You can take a very inexpensive gift, a homemade gift such as a batch of cookies or a homemade candle that your child may have made and wrap them to look spectacular. It’s all in the presentation.
Choosing your wrap
Make a statement under your tree by choosing a color palette for your wrap and ribbon, choose a few different papers that go together and coordinating ribbon, then feel free to mix and match within your palette.
Wrapping table
Create a space in your home that can be “wrapping central”. Gather all your ribbon, paper, tape, scissors and toppers — everything you will need to wrap your gifts. Now anyone in the house can wrap their gifts any way they choose but they will still coordinate with the others when they are stashed beneath the tree.
Using different types of materials
Floral netting for bottles
If you sew, you generally have remnants of fabric. You can also easily pick some up from the fabric store very inexpensively.
When wrapping with fabric, don’t worry about the corners not looking perfectly tight. Leave them loose and luxurious.
Tie an ornament with beautiful sheer ribbon. The trick is that you wrap it just like you would a regular package the only difference being that you use double stick foam tape.
Bags
Bags can be a very cute and easy way to wrap for odd shaped items and also if you have a minimal amount of time. There is a trick however to making even a bag look special by using the right color tissue and adding ribbon.
Topping your packages Adding interesting items on top, small ornaments, interesting name tags, berries, pinecones greens or what ever you would like to use to make the top of your package look great for those very special packages. This is a way to recycle ornaments that don’t go with your new décor, or your current style. You many have a few loners because the others have broken during the years, or you may find an ornament that goes with the recipients collection. It’s also a wonderful accent for those birthdays that are close to Christmas.