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Issue Date: November 26, 2006
Thinking outside the box
In the spirit of the season, experts share their most creative, user-friendly gift-wrapping ideas.
By Natalie Ermann Russell
Banished are the rolls of wrapping paper with little Santas and reindeer. Gone are the days of just-toss-it-in-a-gift-bag. A gift that is wrapped with an eye toward beauty is more than a gift -- it's a gesture.
Sure, it's fleeting. Within minutes, the wrapping will be torn off and tossed in a pile on the floor. But just as we eat with our eyes first, we also relish gifts first for the way they look. And making them beautiful on the outside is not nearly as costly or time-consuming as you may think.
Brown paper packages tied up with string? Chic.
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JETTISON THE DANCING SANTAS
Trade traditional paper wrapping, which can be garish and tacky, for something more chic.
"We recommend a signature wrapping that you use for every gift," says Sarah Humphreys, Blueprint magazine editor in chief. "Over the years, your loved ones will get to know and love it." Try simple brown kraft paper and twine, both of which can be bought in bulk at packing supply stores or on websites such as uline.com.
For a tasteful burst of color, Christine Fritsch, author of Gifted Wrapping, opts for the "band." "If you only have plain solid paper, dress it up with a band of a patterned paper around the middle," she says.
TAG IT WITH STYLE
Shipping tags and plastic key chains make perfect gift identifiers.
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Hit office-supply stores for gift tags. "I buy manila shipping tags that already have a little piece of string attached," says Danny Seo, author of Simply Green Giving, who personalizes each with an alphabet ink pad set.
Real Simple senior style editor Marcus Hay uses plastic key chains; the "to" and "from" show through the plastic window.
You also can try the grocery store. For food-related gifts, Hay ties dried farfalle (bowtie pasta) with pieces of cooking twine around a plain white box. Fritsch cuts snowflakes out of coffee filters (the kind with the rippled edges) or wax paper. "Wax paper is good because it's glossy and snowy-looking," she says.
REPLACE UNRIVETING RIBBON
Plain ribbon is passé. Both Hay and Humphreys use all thicknesses of colorful rubber bands or brightly colored masking tape (painters' tape) in lieu of ribbon, crisscrossing the bands or tape all over the box to create a graphic pattern.
Seo reuses old VHS tapes as ribbon: "You can wrap a present in a brown paper bag, then wrap the black VHS tape all over so there are chic black stripes." To make a big, overflowing bow in the center, tie 12-inch strips of VHS tape onto the top of the package; curl using scissors.
CONJURE UP CAPTIVATING CONTAINERS
Give a "mimosa kit" and skip paper wrapping altogether.
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Skip wrapping altogether by using a beautiful container instead. Take Seo's mimosa kits: He fills a galvanized bucket with champagne, a citrus reamer, oranges and a mimosa recipe.
He packs holiday cookies in old cigar boxes, wine crates or tangerine crates, most of which have such beautiful graphics that they look vintage. Many tobacco and wine shops give away boxes and crates or sell them for a buck or two apiece.
Kids' lunchboxes also make kitschy cookie tins. "They make a great instant box," Hay says. No matter how good (or bad) the cookies are, you'll surely be invited back.
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6 easy tips for those of us who aren't so crafty
1. Embellish a bare box lid or a wrapped package with objects en masse, Fritsch says. Glue on Hershey's Kisses, Mary Jane candies or even little ornaments or buttons. The key is to keep it orderly.
2. Tile the top of a plain box with colorful Post-itsfor a shingle-like effect, Humphreys suggests. It can be as bright and fun as you like, plus the recipient doesn't have to rip through any tape.
3. If the only paper left in the house is a birthday print, flip it over and use the white side up as a contrast band on a gift wrapped in a brown paper bag, Fritsch says. To dress it up even more, use a snowflake-shaped hole punch down the center of the band.
4. Turn an old phone book into wrapping paper. "It creates a graphic look in a dizzying kind of way," Humphreys says.
5. Using double-sided tape, you can create an upside-down bag for oversize items so it just slips over top of, say, a tricycle (the bottom would be open), Fritsch says. To make it, fold the edgesof two large pieces of wrapping paper to create a 1/2-inch "hem," and simply attach them on the back side using the tape.
6. Hay suggests gluing flower blossoms, like poinsettias or dahlias, ontoa gift that will be opened soon, before the blooms start to shrivel.
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