But a lot of people prefer good old fashioned wrapped gifts. But don’t worry if you’re lacking in the creativity department. Two local gift-wrapping gurus are offering their tips on getting creative with your holiday gift-wrapping.
West Chester resident Sue Glew knows a thing or two about gift-wrapping. For the sixth year in a row, her company, Best Friend Errand Service was hired by Kettering Hospital in Kettering to provide gift-wrapping services to its employees.
She offers her advice for thinking about the outside of the box:
- "It's all about the bow," said Glew. "It's the first thing people notice." And if the only bow you can tie is the one on your shoelaces, websites like Pinterest offer a plethora of examples for fancy bows and how to make them.
- Tulle is an easy-to-use and economical choice for creating beautiful bows. She suggests that when choosing a tulle color, to pick an accent color from the wrapping paper to highlight with the bow.
- Once you've gotten comfortable using tulle, Glew recommends trying organza for a variety.
- Wire ribbon is the easiest to use but is the most expensive.
- As for the inevitable awkward sized gift, she suggests placing cellophane over colored tissue paper (to conceal the gift) and then of course, topping it off with a big, fancy bow.
- Beavercreek resident Julie Crusenberry can make gifts look beautiful by repurposing things you may already have around your home. In fact, Crusenberry, owner of Steph's Jewels, has made a business out of giving new life to things that others might overlook. Her gift-wrapping technique involves reusing some holiday favorites:
- "I've seen candy canes, ornaments, tinsel, bells, twigs, evergreen, pine cones and boughs of holly sitting atop special gifts," said Crusenberry.
- No fancy wrapping paper on hand? No problem. A favorite of Crusenberry's is plain brown mailing paper or a brown grocery bag to wrap gifts. "Then I stencil snowflakes and other Christmas shapes on the packages." The Sunday comics, old maps and even wallpaper can make creative and inexpensive wrapping paper as well.
- If you have young kids, let them draw their own version of Christmas shapes and scenes onto plain brown wrapping paper.
- For ribbons, Crusenberry recommends buying bolts of ribbon rather than the conventional gift-wrapping ribbons. "It's actually more economical because they can be saved and re-used the next year. My mom used to save gift ribbon and ties and then iron them out to reuse the next year."
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