5 Ways to Make Gift Wrapping Interesting

Well, it's that time. The time when you've purchased most, if not all, of your gifts for Christmas and now have to wrap them. I have been wrapping for the past few days and continuously come across the same conundrum: making them look unique and pretty. Some of you may not understand this problem because you are either the 'Martha Stewart of gift wrapping' or because you just wrap your gifts in some paper, throw a tag on and are done with it. Both ways are perfectly wonderful because it really depends on whether or not you and your family cares. My mother, who is incredibly gifted in craftiness, is one of those who wraps them in as little paper as possible and shoves them under the tree. She does this because she ends up doing the bulk of her shopping on the last 1 or 2 days before Christmas and wraps all Christmas Eve night. Then I married a man who loves to make gifts look their best and I got into the spirit.

So I now have to sit down and wrap. I've put a few together using pretty papers and new fabulous bows, but they are becoming monotonous. I decided to head on a hunt for ideas. While on my quest I came across a gal named Melinda Morris who owns a Brooklyn based paperie Lion in the Sun. She had a few lovely tips on how to spice up your wrappings that I just had to share with you all!

1. Think outside the paper. Fabric, scarves, dish towels, tote bags, jars are the perfect eco-friendly way to keep your gift under wraps.
2. Use the top! Make an oversized pom out of tissue paper and place it over a simply wrapped box. Also, use extra scraps of paper to make paper ribbons, decorative fans and flowers.
3. Wrapping for men can be tricky so why not add part of the gift to your wrap concoction! Use a tie instead of ribbon, the sunday crossword puzzle as wrapping paper and a cheesecloth bag embroidered with his initials.
4. Turn boring basics beautiful. Take a solid colored paper and make it interesting with stickers, stamps, hole punched paint swatches, a sharpie design and ribbon with a sprig of pine.
5. Color code. For big families, color coding gifts for each not only makes for a pretty picture under the tree, it is a huge time saver on Christmas morning.