CHRISTMAS WRAPPING IDEAS

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Instead of going out this Christmas to buy 2 or 3 rolls of manufactured Christmas wrapping paper, as one tends to do each Christmas, it would be such a good idea to try and both save money and be original at the same time by devising your own personal way of wrapping or distinguishing the presents that you aim to give to your near and dear ones so below are a few ideas:

1. Have you ever thought how useful your 30 m roll of aluminum paper in the kitchen can be? Any present wrapped in this shiny silver material with a colourful satin ribbon tied around it would look great underneath the Christmas tree and appetizing for any friend or relative to open with glee.

2. If the present to be wrapped is quite small you can print out a pretty picture from your computer and wrap it up in this. The picture could be a nice wintry scene or you could choose a photo of some red berries and select the option of displaying it 16 times on one sheet of A4 paper. The paper should be quite thin or else it is not so adaptable to being bent.

3. One wide red, gold, green (or really any colour) ribbon tied round a certain part of the gift with your name added on the gift tag will be quite adequate for gifts for adults as they really don't need such an element of surprise as children do and so it's not so important to keep what the present is such a secret!!!

4. For really tiny little presents such as a ring, pair of ear-rings etc a walnut that has been opened perfectly into two halves can be used as the casing. Place the ring, or little stud ear-rings inside, tie a thin red ribbon including a gift tag around to secure the two halves of the walnut together and place it under the tree. This is really different and very economical if you have already bought a packet of walnuts!!!

5. Boxes of chocolates that you have bought or been given as presents throughout the year and have wisely stored away in your pantry can be very useful at Christmas time. Chocolate boxes are famous for using very pretty pictures on the top part of the box and so any flat present that you need to wrap up such as a book, CD, silk scarf or gift token will fit very nicely into such a box. You will also catch your victim unawares as he/she will no doubt think that they are only going to receive a box of chocolates as their present when in reality it will be something else that they receive!!!!

6. And something as simple as the plastic that encases your loaf of bread can be spray painted in silver, the present introduced into the plastic and a red ribbon (including the gift tag) tied around the top of the plastic bag!!!

7. Finally, if you were lucky enough to have had some money during the previous year to have bought something in a shop with a brand name such as Dior (where maybe you bought a perfume), Burberrys (you needed a belt) or even Chanel (where you bought a lipstick) then you could put your present into the little paper carrier bags that you were no doubt given. To be given a present in a bag with Chanel on the outside is a real thrill even thoughh on opening it up you find that you have been given a tanga, but that tanga seems to have a lot more prestige surrounding it!!!