Wrapping Paper
12Me when young: The paper is just going to be ripped off.
The present is what counts… buy the cheapest paper you can find.
Me when middle aged: There is no way in hell I’m dealing with cheap walmart wrapping paper ever again. It is NOT worth the hassle.
It’s funny, I used to think I was terrible at wrapping presents, then I realized, “no, I’m not bad, I can make presents look nice, neat, and tidy when using good quality paper”… it’s the bad paper than made my wrapping look sloppy. (There again, maybe I am bad at wrapping because my wife can make wrapping look great even with the low-quality paper).
Curious everyone else’s wrapping paper philosophy. I used to HATE wasting money on paper instead of the gift… now I just hate crappy paper that rips and wrinkles and won’t stick properly.
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Yeah, I’m a fan of big rolls of heavy duty paper. Also, not going to lie, I use my smoker a lot and will typically wrap several gifts in butcher’s paper.
I have a lot. 
@capnjb that’s pretty neat actually. Reminds me of the Christmas episode of Gavin and Stacy where Corbin’s character (think he was called Smithy) used metal baking foil to wrap presents.
Mom used to make us carefully take the paper off, fold it up, and give it to her to re-use. Then one year at my sister’s house for christmas (she was grown with teen kids it was that long after the fact) she had us wad up the paper and throw it behind the couch or in the lit fireplace. Mom was having a freak out over that. She also gave mom a handful of (new) rolls of christmas paper for christmas.
Personally I don’t wrap the presents for the grandkids. I just bring them all in a box or garbage bag and hand them out. They don’t appear to care.
@Kidsandliz my mum used to do that too! I think she still collects the old paper intending to reuse it, but never does anymore. Instead she puts everything she gives out in gift bags these days.
@OnionSoup My mom definitely reused it and sometimes didn’t cross off the original name on there so there were two names and she had someone open it so she knew who it was actually for. Kind of messed up the Santa fiction when we were younger.
@Kidsandliz I confess to reusing gift bags. There are some in our family that have been used a half dozen or more times now.
Shirt boxes too if they can avoid ripping or pulling off the glossy outer coat.
We only do that for our family though. Wouldn’t reuse a gift bag for someone outside the immediate family.
@Kidsandliz
I reuse gift bags all the time (there so expensive).
One year I was so behind on Christmas I brought all my family’s gifts unwrapped over in a garbage bag and got yelled at by my brother. He said I was being lazy and it took the fun out of it. So now I make him work for his present by wrapping tons and tons of ribbon around it so it’s super hard to open.
@Kidsandliz after unwrapping gifts for a birthday or something years and years ago, my great aunt threw a bunch of wrapping paper in her lit fireplace and it caused a fire but, like, not a good, contained kind of fire. I think it somehow caused a fire on some part of her roof. I was little so I don’t recall all the details but, I do know the fire department came to put it out and she had to get some new roofing on a portion of the house a week or so later.
@natasha_natasha probably creosote in the chimney, flaming wrapping paper went up and caught it on fire. That is one of the biggest reasons for chimney fires. We had those enough in NW Ontario (heated with wood) that we tied a tray to the top of the chimney and kept a ladder against the side of the building. We’d cut off the air at the wood burning stove (which would cause it to shake and create scary noises) and then go on the roof to block the air up top by putting the tray over the chimney opening. Unfortunately got really practiced with that. We had a creosote still going at an outside right angle bend. Filled a #10 can every 24 hours. That is what comes from burning unseasoned wood. Pine at that. Creosote is very burnable and a wood preservative (which is why you don’t want to burn railroad ties as they are soaked in that).
@Kidsandliz @OnionSoup sometimes mine got reused as book jackets
@OnionSoup @pakopako Book jackets. I forgot about those. Ours were usually made out of paper bags.
The Container Store has the most outstanding gift wrap. I learned that when I worked there years ago, but after buying with the employee discount, it’s tough to pay full price. Costco is pretty good, though. And big, fat double-sides rolls rule.
I used to wrap things in the Sunday funnies. And that tells you both how old and how cheap I am.
@werehatrack
My dad did that all the time when we were kids.
When I was young and poor the Sunday comics were the wrapping paper.
Now I am old and lazy and you are lucky if it gets transferred from the store bag to a gift bag.
I like the paper from world market but there is not one close to me any longer. But I also find myself using gift bags more
The better paper with the grid on the back or a square pattern makes wrapping much easier! But I still look for bargains. The heavy duty, worth it’s weight in gold, school fundraiser paper is only used for very special gifts/people.
Or something like that.
(But, like so many sayings, it’s not actually correct, just “correct enough” to block people from looking deeper.)
Anyway, I’ve never worried much about making the wrapping job look awesome. I have noticed that some papers are better than others, and (to a certain extent) make the wrapping job easier, but I haven’t cared enough to look beyond that. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I think what you’ve discovered is that your wife is a master wrapper, able to work even with poor quality tools/materials. But more importantly, you’ve found that good materials are able to enhance the effects of your skills.
HIKING! VIKINGS! STRIKE KING [BRAND FISHING LURES]! AWESOME!
@xobzoo perhaps I am a mediocre wrapper. Not a bad wrapper. I can make good paper look good. My teens… Oh the disaster they cause with paper…
@OnionSoup @xobzoo My dad is the one who’d create the paper wrapping disaster with really messy jobs. Mom wouldn’t let him wrap the Santa presents since we all knew how badly he wrapped things.
@Kidsandliz @xobzoo kids always get a deliberately badly wrapped present from “ghost of Frank”. Frank is a fictional older brother who died a thousand different ways… He played too close to the lake and got eaten by an alligator. He was playing near the stove and burnt himself and got eaten by the cats. He was too noisy outside so the neighbours ate him… I couldn’t count the number of cautionary ways Frank died (and usually got eaten)…
Anyhow, he always wraps a gag gift (very badly) for the kids… But that one is on purpose.
@OnionSoup @xobzoo Perhaps you could post some recipes for cooking Frank so that, outside of alligators and cats, you knew for sure he’d be eaten. I need some. I only know how to cook tarantulas and other spiders. When I told me kid there were good reasons why some species eat their young she told me I didn’t like to cook and wouldn’t know how to cook her. I told her there was always the internet. I don’t want cooking people to come up on my internet search in case she comes up missing some day
Everything goes in reused gift bags. Have a big box full of them. Spread out gifts, find a matching bag. Done!
I was just thinking about this the other day after I got done wrapping presents. Years ago I bought a shit ton of wrapping paper at Joann’s after Xmas. I had just finished up with a really good thick roll of paper that had the lines on the back. Then I opened up one that tore as I unrolled it. I looked at the present after it was done and decided it had to be the wrapping paper bc all my other presents that were done with nice wrapping paper didn’t look crappy like that.
Hallmark also has some nice wrapping Paper that I use for baby/wedding showers.
I pretty much only use Current peek proof wrapping paper (from current catalog). It’s great! I hate paper that rips easily, and I’ve regretted the few years I didn’t have the Current wrap available. It used to be super heavy (almost too heavy), but now it’s perfect.
Their jumbo rolls are big (60+ sqft), too. We used one pattern per kid when they were little so that they could easily identify which gifts were theirs under the tree. It also saved us from writing out a million tags, lol! One jumbo roll was usually enough for each kid plus stocking stuffers.
I usually stock up right after Christmas, (they do a big clearance sale) but even at $5-7 a roll, it’s totally worth it!
Also…I suck at wrapping.
But I really admire and appreciate those who can make gifts look extra special with ribbons and bows.
@k4evryng If I were going to wrap something, I’d use my roll of butcher paper, and seal it with duct tape.
@k4evryng @werehatrack
Industrial chic!
@werehatrack my cousin’s husband works at the paper mill. His gifts are wrapped in kraft paper that he made, and taped with gorilla tape
It’s weird, because I like doing crafts of various kinds, but I hate to wrap presents - I could do a better job if I tried but I just don’t like doing it. So when gift bags came along I was so happy - and they’re a lot easier to save and reuse, too.
Dish towels and pillow cases.
I have a table with two extensions/leaves. This makes the perfect cutting edge to keep your paper nice and square with straight cuts. Unroll the paper, line it up with the long side of the table, drag a knife down the gap where the leaf would go. Presto!
My second job was as a gift wrapper at a department store at age 12. I have loved wrapping ever since. (My first job was delivering telephone books. That’s some hard labor right there! Did that at 9,10, and 11.)
@milstarr My favorite gift I ever wrapped at the store and the one that made such an impression on me, that I still remember it, was:
Older gentleman walked up and handed me a bag and 6 100 dollar bills. Crispy money. Fresh. Clean. He said wrap up these ugly panties for my wife and hide the money among them. I’ll be back in an hour to get it. The panties were granny rejects. So bad. New but just not pretty at all. And BIG. I don’t know if that was really her size but I very much doubt it. That dude would not have been with someone that would have fit in those granny panty rejects. The fact that he trusted me with such a huge amount of cash was incredible to me. When he picked up the gift he thanked me and said it was much more beautiful than what was on the inside. I smiled ear to ear. That was a great compliment for me. He went onto say as an explanation that he used to buy her gorgeous jewelry and designer clothes but she always complained about what he got her. He decided this year that wasn’t going to bother him and he wasn’t going out of his way to buy something thoughtful that she wouldn’t appreciate. He told me he hoped he got to the box after she opened it and before she threw it into the fire! He didn’t want the cash to burn up because she didn’t even look at her gift in order to find the hidden cash.
Looking back it seems a little sad. But he trusted me and was delighted with the wrap job that’s my takeaway. Oh and appreciate even the granny panty gifts because you never know the reasoning behind it.
@milstarr I agree, it is sad! But that is a great story!
I kind of wish I knew what her reaction was, and how it went down after that, lol! I hope she felt like an ass worthy of those panties…
Here are a couple of wrap jobs I’m envious of!
