I want to stress that I do not celebrate Christmas just so I can decorate my entire house with swaths of garland so fresh the whole first floor smells like a forest and squirrel poop. No, I also celebrate Christmas for more altruistic reasons; the presents.
I like to give 'em, I like to get 'em, but most of all I like to wrap them.
I would like for you to gasp so hard when you see my wrapping that people try to perform the Heimlich maneuver on you, fearing there's a drumstick wedged in your esophagus. That is my goal.
Anything less than that and I'm disappointed in myself.
This year I got my wrapping inspiration from my very own Christmas Pledge Facebook group, which is a group I created for people to motivate each other to create their own near death experience Christmases. We also encourage each other to gain weight, drink wine and throw mittfuls of tinsel on anything in our path. Close to the beginning of the Christmas Pledge, members were already talking about wrapping ideas and a few people mentioned Furoshiki, the Japanese art of wrapping in fabric.
I thought to myself, Karen, that's what you'll do this year. Simple, elegant, kind of old timey, and no need for bows. Great. I ran myself to Ikea to pick up some cheap fabric. I wanted velvet but they didn't have any, plus I realized velvet would be way too thick to wrap with. Tea Towels also ran through my mind but all of my presents would have to be the size of those forest squirrels traipsing through my garland for the tea towel to be big enough, so that idea was eliminated.
I ended up with several meters of natural and black cotton. It was lightweight and cheap. That night I got to wrapping my first present. It looked weird. So I unwrapped the present and tried again. No. It still looked weird. And by weird, I mean, like a diaper. The present looked like it was wrapped in a giant nappy. No matter what I did or how I adorned it I would be handing over the Christmas equivalent of a baby toilet.
Shocking, but wrapping your presents in a diaper can make them look like shit.
Which means here I sit, on December 1st, without a present wrapping idea. I'm so ashamed.
I know I'll come up with something but that doesn't help you people who are staring at your computers right now waiting for me to spurt out a brilliant choking hazard.
For now I'll remind you of some of my past ideas in case you'd like to glom onto one of those.
Table of Contents
Christmas Wrapping Ideas
Back in Black
Christmas wrapping 2016. Black paper, black wide velvet bows, dramatic gold accents.
Glitter and Glue
Christmas wrapping 2015. Tracing the iconic Group of 7 trees onto white paper and glitterizing them. I like the Group of Seven so much I bought a Group of Seven jigsaw puzzle last year.
Town and Country
Cozy, comfortable but sophisticated wrapping. Kind of my favourite. I say that about a lot of them though.
The Ribbon.
Have you been doomed to using up old ugly wrapping paper? It's not the end of your beautiful present wrapping dreams.
Tie it up with a really nice ribbon and you'll be in good shape. Add a sprig or two and you're good to go.
This is just cruddy dollar store paper with wide velvet ribbon. Not even the good velvet ribbon, just regular cheap, hard velvet ribbon. Although I must warn you that after posting this wrapping last year someone emailed me to say it was THE MOST DISAPPOINTING THING THEY'D EVER SEEN.
Obviously this person had never had their Apple watch light up and thought they made their move goal for the day, but it was actually just their stand goal.
Paper and Pinecones
Plain old kraft paper, pinecones, and feed sacks. Tied up with string.
Christmas Present Dioramas
THE wrapping gold standard. Create a multitude of scenes on top of wrapped boxes like this one or my other favourite, the skating pond in the forest, complete with ice rink. Christmas present dioramas will win ANYONE over.
Again with the ribbon
A few years ago I found the most beautiful ribbon, perfect for my house EVER. Plaid with gold fringe. For tags I used gold chain by the foot from the hardware store and added glitter and leather tabs with the recipient's first initial. See how I did all the wrapping and tagging here.
At this point the only wrapping idea I can think of that would make someone choke is dipping the presents in ammonia. Which would be especially effective if wrapped in a that diaper.
Have a good weekend, good luck with your wrapping. And don't forget. It isn't prosecutable if you're killing them with kindness.
p.s. This year's wrapping will be posted on Monday!
Brenda
Ooooohhhh!! Love wrapping presents but I fall short of the beauty that you've created. I'm a fan of Mid-Century Modern - think the super kitchsy stuff. Pink bottle brush trees, shiny round ornaments. Massive hangovers from spiked eggnog at 4 Christmas parties each week for a month!
If it loads correctly, I found these images of a vintage Christmas cookbook giveaway thingy. Maybe it'll spark something....
Brenda
Here's the other one I found.
Rick O Shea
As we all know, a gift with an electric cord attached would frowned upon in certain circles, such as a vacuum cleaner or clothes iron. To enjoy the initial reactions and a few good laughs, consider wrapping that special (non-corded) gift with a cut-off cord dangling out of the wrapped box with cord/plug fully exposed for all to see. The deep shit you’d be in would be short lived.
Sandy Jackson
Hi Karen,
I too am more than a bit crazy when it comes to wrapping gifts. One year I made giant surprise balls. They are made with strips of crepe paper and usually have tiny Cracker Jack type toys. I used more upscale items, but still smallish. The pear was about 14" tall, and corresponding in size were an apple and a banana (for my "Nana Banana"). They were a mess and a lot of fun to unwrap.
Another year I did a simpler take on this idea and used the crepe paper to wrap a box. The rolls here in the States have to be cut apart because it is too wide. Can be done with a craft knife. (Go ahead and use it with the blade sticking way out. Haven't cut off any vital parts yet.) The bonus is that you get two rolls for the price of one. Super easy, super fun and it works well with odd shaped gifts too.
Happy wrapping, Sandy
Janelle
Perhaps you've set the bar too high? What if you took a year and did what I do every year, that being buy the giant Costco pack of wrapping paper and three to six farthings of scotch tape and drunkenly shove the gift in there like a four year old on glue, making tags out of uneven rectangles of wrapping paper scraps? Then, next year anything you come up with will look like some sort of bad-ass, god-like creation by comparison.
Karen
Hmm. Maybe. ~ karen!
Janelle
Btw I took the Xmas pledge & now I'm ready for Christmas but my house looks like this:
MindyK
Right there with you, Janelle. I upped my game one year by getting fabric and knitted ribbons at the craft store ($1/roll) and tying my gifts with them. Ooh, aah. ;-)
Monica
Maybe if you added a little something to the knot portion to make it a little more Elle Décor and a little less Pampers? It might be a little more country than your mid-century modern heart can take, but I like the red current and plaid in this one.
https://cdn.evermine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/furoshiki-4.jpg
Karen
I love country! I have nothin' against country at all. :) Especially with my tree this year and the candles. I do know the wrapping will be fairly traditional. :) ~ karen!
Ev Wilcox
I use old newspaper Sunday comics for wrapping paper. Several fam & friends were so good to save them for me. When that runs out I will prob get a large roll of plain recycled brown or tan paper. I have many rubber stamps and will go crazy with them before the wrapping. I do not like wrapping at all! But this year I really got ahead of the gift buying debacle and am 99% done-yay! So I am hoping to maybe enjoy Christmas a bit more and maybe the wrapping will not be such a chore. We'll see.
Kelly
Ahem, ...."mittfuls"? Perhaps mitts-full
Love your stuff!
Last year everyone got their stuff in baskets. Some were what I had around the house as I have lots. I've had to create a rule: no more baskets. So, using them for gifts was a way to clear them out of here - and make room for more!
NinaMargo
Sometimes I just go with a solid color but glue an old Sunday Bloom County or Calvin & Hobbes comic strip (full of loving whimsical wisdom) on it, along with a calendar page of the month the recipient was born with their birth date circled in highlighter, and my name written below. Finish with a ribbon. Christmas morning becomes a bit of a treasure hunt especially in bigger families, not so much in small(er) ones.
Laff
Great idea!!!
MaggieB
Reindeer poop! Had written a super pithy and witty reply and mobile slipped as I was about to post and now it's gorn!
Summary is : no pressure, we are all waiting for your magic to happen / creative gene maybe a bit knackered after Mega burpangelfart, needs to reset / admitted to my secret stashes of gorgeous fabrics and cards that I would send to me or have stacked in my imaginary sewing room / suggestion but didn't know how to put in this comment so put up in Christmas Pledge group for you. Cheers. Mobile on table now pushing post button!
MaggieB
And having just posted of course my original did go through. And that's without any form of Christmas Spirit imbibed so far, so it's going to be of those days heh?
Karen
:) ~ karen!
Marilyn
Who cares what you are going to wrap your presents in , I want to know what the heck you are going to do with several metres of cheap thin black cotton ? I detest wrapping and thus I usually just slap it in a bag or throw some paper around it. You
Karen
Ha! I'll use the black fabric for a backdrop for when I take pictures, or to block out light for photos as well. :) It'll be used. And I'll make beeswax fabric wraps with the other cotton. ~ karen!
MaggieB
Karen, have every confidence that you are going to come up with something so cool and amazing, so absolutely no pressure at all m'dear!
And your creativity gene needs to have a little reset anyways after the mega DIY burpangelfart that you expelled.
This Japanese fabric wrapping is just lovely and just spent (X)to the power of 9 zillion minutes gorging on glorious Japanese fabrics, beautiful fabric stashing being one of my secret lives, along with cards and handmade paper, shhhhh! With absolutely no intention of sending them out or makng anyrhing. Looking over her shoulder guiltily...
But back in the real world - what about a mix of using the fabric to make a bag and one of your simple but classy colour combo paper wrappings?
Jody
The candles on your tree make me think about a simple grosgrain ribbon held in place by sealing wax. It continues the modern, simple look with a Victorian influence.
Karen
Good thinking! ~ karen
kennedy
I love this idea !!
Cynthia Jones
The sealing wax is soooo you, Karen . You could use different shapes into the wax for each gift.
The first one I can think of is a chicken foot. Of couse, the chicken would carry on and not cooperate, so you may have to make one up with moulding wax first and then make a stamp.
Clare Hollingsworth
I often use out-of-date map books as wrapping paper as the pages are so nice and large - and it's always fascinating to learn where new places are.
Also we have loads of charity shops (thrift stores?) so I get lots of scarves of all types for 50p or £1 and use them as wrapping to suit each person.
When I was a teenager and we bought vinyl records, I had fun swapping the album sleeves so granny thought she had been given Led Zeppelin and my boyfriend grimaced at unwrapping Frank Sinatra - oh, we did laugh! Corny, I know...
Melissa Keyser
I love using maps as well!
Kathy
I have bundles of fabric from projects started and scrapped (hey that just happened, seriously).
I use that rather than buying new. And sometimes I whip it up into shoe bags as everyone needs those for travel, and use a ribbon at the top of the bag, with tag and doo dah, or a bell.
And everyone gets something wrapped in the comics from the newspaper, as I start saving those in October. Or old travel maps.
Wrapping is more fun than shopping, for sure!
Tracie
I just watched the first three episodes of This is Us, season 2, so I may be a tad overly emotional right now, but I'm still really loving that black and gold from last year. Also, the dioramas are so adorable, and creative, I just can't stand it...I can't even be upset that you have chosen not to reveal...I mean, haven't come up with, this year's ultimate creation, seeing how you have already given us such a wide variety of great wrapping techniques. Thanks Karen!!!
Gaeyl
Can you wash & dry the cotton and then just fold over a line to let the length weight help pull wrinkles out . If that doesn't work turn your paper grocery bags inside out or kraft paper wrap your presents rip the cotton you purchased into frayed strips make fabric flowers and trimming for packages. Think about having a stamp like your insignia for future Holidays and change colours every season if you like. You could even braid the colours to make it look intentional .
Stephanie
I make fabric bags for gifts although they are more like a laundry bag than a diaper. You can reuse them every year if you don ‘t like wrapping gifts but for kids I wrap the gifts inside the bag with tissue and tape. I double dog dare any kid to open tissue and tape without wrecking it.
Andrea
My mom did fabric bags out of Christmas cloth one year. I still use them traveling for shoe covers, laundry bag etc...
kennedy
First off I did laugh out loud when I read your blog post heading in my email box. That's skill right there... serious skills.
I also wanted to comment that the black boxes with frames - wonderful. I just adore that idea.
As far as gift wrap goes, I pinned nearly 200 fricken gift wrap ideas before I decided on this..
https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/699324648359902487/
I'm doing mine in burlap, red wrap, and a red flower instead of the green spray. I like it because it's layered and textured. I am thinking probably not your style as it is simple and plain and not at all chicken-leg-in-the-throat inspiring, but it worked for me!
Kennedy
Karen
I do like it! I've done that sort of wrapping myself. ~ karen!
Jackie
I'm sure you'll think of something loving the feedsack though - homestead organics is local to my area!
Lianne
I have found that I don't really mind how bad the Furoshiki wrapping looks as long as the gift giver used an Hermes scarf for the wrapping material.
Karen
Hahahah! Agreed. ~ karen!