When it comes to my best friends' birthdays, I get almost as excited as I do for my own. I love the feeling of getting a present for someone that you know they will love! Cali had her birthday today and Bailey has her birthday tomorrow. That's two best friends in one week. Man! On another note, tomorrow would also have been my grandpa's 90th birthday who recently passed away, so I'm sending some birthday wishes up to him as well.
I have been very busy lately and needed an idea for a blog post. I guess everyone's feeling the birthday rush this week because Bailey suggested that I do a post on wrapping presents. Thank you for the idea! I actually found more things than I thought I would that I could post about. It's not like my usual crafty posts, but is still a way of being crafty.
It's always fun to give and receive gifts, but it's even more fun if they look cute! In this post, I'll show a few ways of wrapping different things along with some tips for gift giving.
I'm sure you received a gift in a box or a cute little bucket before. If you're like me, you have tons just lying around the house! Even if I don't think I will use a gift "holder", I keep it so I can use it for other gifts later on.
Don't fret if you don't have any cute containers to give. You can make your own! Making food containers is especially easy because food can look pretty on it's own. Find something around the house that can fit your gift. Get creative with it! I found this breadcrumbs container that could hold cookies, for example. There are endless possibilities. You could even reuse an empty wrapping paper tube to hold a poster or something! Nifty, huh?
Of course, you don't just want to give someone a gift in a breadcrumbs container. That's a little weird. All you have to do to make it better is take some wrapping paper and wrap it all up! Cut a piece of wrapping paper that can fit right around the container. You can even use the same lid if you want! I probably wouldn't use this one because it doesn't match my paper, though. Tape the wrapping paper on the container and make sure you tape the bottom so it doesn't slip off. If you want your cute container to be used again, you could mod podge it too! That would be really cute!
If you only have a little bit of food or a lot of little pieces, like candy, or just a gift that you want to see while it's still wrapped, like a gift basket, then wrap it in cellophane! If you don't know what that is, it's like tissue paper that's clear. Again, don't worry if you don't have it because you can make something similar. Take a Ziploc bag and cut the ugly part off. This would be the zipper part and anywhere that it says "Ziploc". Make sure it's all clear. Put the food in the bag and bunch the top. Tie it of with a ribbon either curled or in a bow and you're done. This one was made with a gallon freezer bag and a good amount, but not a lot, of yogurt-covered raisins. If you are debating on what size bag to use, always go bigger because you can always cut some of the top off at the end.
The same goes for wrapping buckets and such in tissue paper or cellophane as well. Pull the paper around the sides, bunch it all at the top, and tie it off. Unfortunately, the bag trick probably wouldn't work with this. You would need a really big bag.
If you don't known how to curl ribbon, it's easy! Most scissors have a skinnier blade and a fatter one. Open the scissors and place your thumb on the inside (or the sharp part) of the skinny blade. Take the end of the ribbon closest to your knot and put it in between the blade and your thumb. Press down hard enough for it to stay in place, but not too hard, or you will rip it. Pull the ribbon through until you reach the end and don't go too fast. It takes some practice, but you will get the hang of it in no time at all.
Hopefully, you known how to wrap a box. It's one of the simplest things you'll ever do. Follow the pictures below if you don't know how. If you ask me, they're pretty straight-forward. I always like to wrap presents in boxes if I can because they look much neater and are much easier. Save old clothing store boxes and all of those boxes from Christmas and birthdays, so you don't have to go buy some every time you wrap.
Some things, though, are boring if you put them in a box, like clothes. It seems like every time you get clothes, they are in a box, unless you get it from me! I'm not saying that I never have wrapped clothes in a box, because I have many times, but I invented my own way of wrapping clothes, or anything tubular for that matter, that I like to call the "giant candy" method. Actually, I just made that up on the spot, but I kind of like it! In order to do this, you have to roll your clothes. Place your clothes or tubular object on your wrapping paper and measure it so there are about 4-6 inches on each end. With the wrong side of the paper facing towards you, roll your object in the wrapping paper and tape it to hold it all together. Bunch both ends and tie it off with raffia (it's like stringy straw) or ribbon. It should look like a candy shape, hence the name. :)
If you don't have a gift and are relying on the gift card route, don't just give your friend a gift card in an envelope. I have one word for that... lame. I found these gift card boxes at the store (Walmart?) and they are just as easy and not near as lame. They are magnetic, so they can be reused over and over again and come with a cute bow that you can make on your own by just pulling some strings. Easy enough, right?
I hope you'll get creative when wrapping and giving your next gift. I always like finding new ways to wrap. I know this was pretty long and there were a lot of pictures, so congratulations to those of you who made it all the way to here. Have fun and happy birthday to my buddies!
