CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--LAST MINUTE GIFT WRAPPING IDEAS

Christmas presents wrapped and decorated with household items and craft supplies

Erica, Nichole, and Serena are all off doing last minute Christmas shopping and have dumped today’s blog post in my lap. So let’s discuss gift wrapping. We all want our gifts to look beautiful under the tree, but with the price of gift wrap and ribbon, you can wind up spending almost as much on the packaging of the gift as the gift itself. Or maybe cost isn’t an issue for you (lucky you!), but you didn’t plan well and now have more gifts than you have wrappings for them, and the thought of one more trip to the store is giving you a panic attack.

Whichever category you fit into, here are some suggestions for creative, easy-to-do gift wrapping from various items you have sitting around the house.

Using the Sunday funnies section is something that people have been doing for years. It’s a standard go-to when you need wrapping paper in a hurry. Here are some other suggestions:

1. Fabric
2. An old sheet or T-shirt you were going to assign to the rag pile. Just make sure to launder it first!
3. Aluminum foil
4. Kitchen parchment
5. Colored construction paper or copy paper (for small gifts)
6. Plastic shopping bags (The backs usually don’t have any printing on them.)

To decorate these packages, print out holiday motifs on your computer, and glue them to the top of the package. Or recycle the fronts of Christmas cards. Or attach a Christmas ornament. If you have craft supplies at your disposal, glue some pompoms to the top of the package to form a flower, Christmas tree, snowman, or other cute design. Use craft gemstones or buttons.

Run out of ribbon? Here are a few substitutes:

1. Strips of fabric
2. Yarn
3. A tape measure
4. Colored duct tape or painter’s tape
5. Strips of colored paper
6. Ric-rac
7. Lace hemming tape
8. Twine or cord
9. Bungee cord (great for a guy’s gift!)
10. Embroidery floss
11. Chenille stems

Do you have any creative ways you wrap presents? Or manage all those last-minute holiday tasks? Let's hear from you. Post a comment to be entered into the drawing for a special surprise from our Book Club Friday guest author.