Fun and Creative Ways to Wrap Presents

There's so much more to wrapping a present than paper and tape. As a notorious card forgetter, a beautifully wrapped gift is a perfect way for people to know a gift is from you.

There are so many different ways to wrap or package gifts that can be unique and creative. Recently, a friend bought her first home. I could remember when I moved into my first place it was all the little items I forget, such as a can opener, spatula, cork screw, etc.

I also included goodies like cocktail glasses and mix. Adding different color tissue paper to the interior of the glasses brightened up the "basket." Rather than making a regular basket, I bought a colander and put some colored tissue paper inside to give it height.

I took all the little items, out of the package, and wrapped them together with ribbons. A majority of the time, the packaging is ugly, so just get rid of it. My friend is very into cooking, and presentation, so the basket reflected that. What she really liked about it, was the fact that it was different from anything else she received. Plus, when I forget the card at home, she instantly knew it was from me.

All sorts of items can be used for wrapping gifts such as the comic pages from the Sunday paper, old calendars, old maps, (great for someone who is moving), and even extra wall paper. Most hardware stores such as Home Depot or Lowe's has large books with wall paper samples, which they throw away when the season change. If you go in and ask for them, they'll usually give them to you.

For smaller gifts, I've used pages from old college textbooks. (The ones I couldn't sell that is, or were especially dull.) I love to use math pages for my more technologically savvy friends.

Dollar stores hold tons of goodies to spruce up gifts. I love stamping craft paper, which can be purchased on the roll from the dollar store. Also, items like dried flowers, sparkly stems, ribbons, stickers, tulle, and holiday do-dads that just make a simple presentation special. The flora section in the dollar store usually has one of my favorite items, which is ribbon with the wire inside, making it possible to shape and bend the ribbon into fancy or fun shapes.