Saturday, August 23, 2008

Christmas Package Decorations

I didn't realize how plain my gift wrapping had gotten until one year my daughter-in-law joked about there not being any ribbons or decoration on the Christmas gifts. When I thought back to some of the gifts I'd received as a child, I remembered some friends of our family who always had cute little dolls, or holiday greenery, or little toy trains tied onto the packages we unwrapped. Yes, I admit, I was shamed into getting more creative with my Christmas wrappings.

To save money on what can become an expensive endeavor, I hit the dollar stores and places where I know I can get small items to tape or tie to the tops of packages. The best happens when I plan ahead and shop the post-holiday sales. I can find all sorts of things to use for decoration that only cost 10 to 25 cents.

Or try using some floral pics that are out of season. Use some glitter spray to make them look more like the holidays. Who says you have to use red and green colors or only poinsettias for Christmas?

Another inexpensive gift topper is colored netting you can purchase in a fabric store. I cut 6-8" circles, gather them in the middle and tie a bit of curling ribbon around them to fasten. It beats trying to make big bows out of expensive ribbons.

How fancy do you get with your gift wrapping?

2 comments:

julie said...

Hello.
I was wondering what dollar stores are.
I usually wrap presents with pre-made bows. They are cheap and cute.

Cathy Messecar said...

Julie,

In the USA, we have stores generally called "dollar" stores, meaning everything in the store is only one dollar for each item.

They operate under several names: Dollar Tree, Dollar General, 99 Cent store, etc.

They have every kind of home item (foods and snacks, too, sizes vary; also clothing, make-up, etc.)They sometimes buy up leftovers from larger stores, so I've found some real bargains there. One dollar solar powered luminaries with batteries (recharged each day by sun).

Fun places to visit. My favorite purchase there is the chicken salad and tuna snack with five crackers in a package. At other stores they always cost more than a dollar. At dollar stores--thta's the price.

Merry Christmas, Julie.