It’s here. It’s wrapping time. If you’re like me, you’ve been chipping away at it bit by bit but and only have a little wrapping left. If you’re like O, you’ll be up until the wee hours of the morning on Christmas, still wrapping because you just started. Either way, I wanted to share a few little tips for how to make those gifts stand out, all with Kraft Paper wrapping.
Now, if you looked at this title and immediately rolled your eyes with thoughts like “I don’t have time for that!” or “Who cares, it’s gonna end up in the garbage!” Maybe this isn’t for you. For me, gifting is my love language and I enjoy few things more than making the people I love feel special. A well wrapped gift will end up in the same garbage as the one thrown in a gift bag and you could certainly save time by doing the latter! But if you even wanted to wrap one special gift this year, I hope you find some inspiration here.
I simplified the wrapping for this post and share three different gifts, all wrapped in Kraft Paper (I hope “brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my favorite things” popped in your head.”) I am a wrapping paper collector for sure and usually I order some paper in advance and am really ridiculous about it while always mixing in kraft paper and fun inexpensive paper from places like Home Goods, Hobby Lobby and Target. This year, I skipped the fancy paper and went strictly for the simple stuff and made each gift still feel really special.
You can grab a fancy pen at Michaels or Hobby Lobby or if you’re feeling really inspired, you can Amazon Prime it and get it in time! If you don’t want to pick up a fancy pen, don’t you fret, friend. I grabbed the most random, generic pen I had on the counter to show you “faux-ligraphy” just write in cursive and go back over the down strokes to thicken them and color them in! It couldn’t be easier! Here are some of my favorite pens and markers for hand lettering. It does take a little bit of practice, but you’ll be a pro in no time.
If you have an odd shape item, one of my favorite ways to wrap it is to layer two sheets of tissue paper, roll it and tie it up like candy. Works every time and looks so stinkin’ precious. I used a candle as an example here because a cylinder shape is no friend to wrapping paper, you know? This would be the perfect thing to throw in a gift bag and still have it feel special. I prefer to use a thin ribbon here but really, no one is judging your gift. You could tie it up with floss and it’d still be cute so there’s definitely no wrong way to do it.
When it comes to wrapping actual gift boxes, I think the ribbon is the most important part. Whether it be subtle or statement, thick or thin, textured or smooth, you can get away with a super plain and cheap paper if the ribbon looks good! My favorite places for ribbon are the fabric sections of Hobby Lobby and Michaels because they’re super accessible and somehow always 50% off making each roll around $1-$3 for the entire thing. On the flip side, I’ve been collecting ribbon from Shy Myrtle on Etsy for the past couple years and it’s just made me so happy. The ribbons are curated and super special and sold by the yard and the total can climb pretty quickly so I pretty much only get a yard or two of a couple for special occasions!
Here are the three ways I usually wrap my gifts- the traditional double wrap around (horizontal and vertical,) wrapping around the center multiple times and adding an accessory like fresh greens or an ornament, or wrapping ribbon around the edges of the gift and making a sweet bow.
If you were to peek into my office in the weeks before Christmas, you would think we’d been robbed and they had to turn the room upside down in desperate search for a very small key…that they couldn’t find. My office is Wrapping Station. There are gift boxes, Amazon boxes, cardboard boxes, wrapped gifts, gifts that have been sent to us, ribbon, tape, pens, markers, paintbrushes, EVERYTHING. It’s kind of a nightmare and I just pretend I don’t see it until the day after Christmas. Just know, the wrapping may be pretty but the wrapping station is heinous.
I hope you found this helpful! If you have specific questions, comment on my Instagram or here and I’ll do what I can to help! And if you try out any of these styles, don’t forget to tag me so I can give you all the love. You can do this! Here is some gift wrap options to stock up on:
