Christmas Gift Wrapping

Are you in need of some Christmas gift wrapping ideas?  You’ve come to the right place!  I am one of the weirdos who actually enjoys wrapping presents and making them look beautiful.  And it’s much simpler than it appears, as long as you have the right materials.  Scroll down to see some ideas from the last few years and to check out this year’s gifts.

Every year around the middle of November I start browsing Homegoods, Michaels, Marshall’s, A.C .Moore, and T.J.Maxx to see what wrapping paper and ribbon options are available.  In my opinion, the T.J.Maxx family has the best wrapping paper, and craft stores like Michaels and A.C. Moore have the best ribbon.  Pro tip:  wrapping paper seems to get restocked regularly, while ribbon sells out quickly.  I’d definitely make a point to get your ribbon earlier than later.  If you already think I’m crazy, you should meet my mom.  She buys multiple spools of all the best ribbon she finds, then hoards it so she never runs out of fun ribbon. 

If you’re like me,  you don’t have extra space to store things in your apartment.  For that reason, I like to only buy what I will use that year.  Which means picking out wrapping paper that coordinates with the ribbon I choose.  I always pick the wrapping paper first and then take it to the store to find matching ribbon.  And again, I’d suggest doing this as early as possible.  It’s going to take some planning ahead, but it’s so worth it for the best selection!  

As you can see from the past few years, classic colors and patterns tend to be what I go for, but there are SO many options.  If I was wrapping presents for kids, I would probably choose something with animals, snowmen, Santas, etc.  There was also a surprising amount of non-traditional colors and patterns.  If you’re not into greens and reds, you’re in luck!  Pink, blue, black, and gold seemed to be popular this year.  Both with ribbon and wrapping paper!

Since I only wrap about 20 gifts each year, I choose 3-4 rolls of paper.  They always compliment each other, without being too matchy-matchy.  Or maybe you like matchy-matchy.  You do you!  Once you have your wrapping paper picked out, it’s time to hit the ribbon aisle!  This is the hardest part.  Every year I tell myself I should be one of those people who only wraps in brown craft paper with string, pieces of evergreen, and maybe a candy cane here and there.  But I’m too extra for that.  I need the colors and the plaids and the stripes and the glitter.  That being said, if you’ve picked out paper that coordinates, it should be easier to find ribbon.  For example, this year all my paper had red and green in it.  So I bought ribbon that was red, green, and white.  Boom, done.  If you have lots of different colors going on, it might be best to get gold or silver ribbon!

The last step is to get some wine, put on a Christmas movie, and start wrapping!  Here’s a breakdown of what you need for your Christmas gift wrapping and how inexpensive it can be to give your friends and family the prettiest presents under the tree:

Materials

• 4 rolls of wrapping paper: $12
• 4 spools of ribbon: $12
• Scotch tape: $2
• Scissors: already had at home!
• Present toppers: $6 (optional)
• Name tags: $4 (optional)
• Total cost: $36

These materials were enough to wrap 27 presents, some of which were decently large.  If you’d like to add a little something, you can buy presents toppers at Michaels.  They have tons of fun trinkets to choose from and they are often 50-70% off.   I hope you have fun with your Christmas gift wrapping!  I would love to see your presents too!  You can send me photos here or by tagging me on instagram.