By Bethany Park
Young children sometimes enjoy the wrapping of a package more than the actual gift, but it still ends up in the garbage.
“Wrapping paper and wrapping products are very expensive. We try to stay frugal in our purchases, but it still amounts to thousands of dollars,” said Dennis Lindberg, BYU Bookstore assistant director over operations.
Most people want their presents to look good, but how can you do it without the expense?
Number one, many places (such as the BYU Bookstore) offer free gift wrapping with purchases. The employees that wrap go through a short training period to learn the tricks of wrapping a beautiful package, Lindberg said. So not only will the package look amazing, but it’s free.
But, when complementary wrapping isn’t an option there are creative ways to wrap that are still inexpensive.
Wrapping in newspaper with a red ribbon can look good, but often times just looks cheap. Using magazine pages, especially those with holiday colors, is one step up.
“I took a bunch of my old J.Crew catalogs, taped pages together, and wrapped my gift with that. After adding some ribbon it looked really cute,” said Angela Carlisle, a BYU graduate.
“One year I made gift bags using wax paper and rose petals, bits of dried evergreens, Christmas confetti, etc. I ironed two pieces of wax paper with the d?cor in between so that they melted together. But, don’t forget to protect your iron surface with plain paper,” said Janice Thorley, a BYU graduate from Las Vegas.
Another idea from craftcentralstation.com is to draw childlike Christmas pictures (or just let children draw them) on large sheets of white paper and use them to wrap packages. Tie with colorful ribbon and make a bow by gathering a few crayons together and tying them with ribbon.
At marthastewart.com you can find many ideas for gift wrapping. An example is how to make personal cards with old family photos.
A black-and-white photocopy of the picture desired and a Design art marker in Gray 1 (very light gray) are the only materials needed.
First, place the photocopy, print side down, onto the paper surface desired. Next, use the gray marker to completely color over the back of the photocopied image until the image starts to show through the back of the paper. Finally, wait 5 minutes for it to set and dry, then carefully peel the photocopy away.
