Do you use gift bags or wrap presents?

[magicfan]

I try to wrap as much as I can because I think that some of the fun has been taken out of opening gifts now that everyone uses those bags. The bags are cute and convenient, but....

 

[ChrisnSteph]

I do both, but lately I've been trying to use more wrapping paper. Kids love to rip open presents, not take things out of bags!

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

I love to wrap gifts. I only use the gift bags if I have a gift that I can't wrap, such as a stuffed animal or a box with an awkward shape.

 

[mommaU4]

For kids I always wrap. For adults I'll do both. I love the gift bags though. I stock up on them during the after X-mas clearances.

 

[simba928]

We always wrap gifts for Christmas. For Birthdays and other holidays, though, it depends. If it is easy to wrap, it gets wrapping paper. If it is an awkward shape, it gets a bag.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

a few years ago I had read an article about how many millions (or was it billions?) of gift wrap ends up in the landfill the month following Christmas. So, (I am putting on my flame retardant suit now) I bought ten yards of Christmas fabric - all different fun patterns - and I made drawstring bags in a bunch of different sizes. They are cute bags and we use those within our family. After we are all done opeing gifts, we gather the bags and fold them up -- place them in a rubbermaid container and put them away until the next year when we use them again.

No paper wrap, no bows, no tape, no mess. I do however have some of the silver sparkly wire with the stars on it -- we do wrap that on special gifts to jazz up the fabric bags.

(Go ahead -- flame away -- I'm ready.) And before you ask, out kids totally understand why we have no gift wrap. They don't mind at all.

 

[thelittlemermaid]

I do both. I mainly wrap presents for the kids and use the gift bags for the adults.

But I have used gift bags for the kids birthday presents. They always open their gifts before having cake. Over the years I have noticed they don't want to take alot of time to open birthday presents cause they want to hurry up and get to the cake. LOL!!!

Now for Christmas, that's a different story. It seems the more paper that is on the floor, the better the Christmas is. Just a bigger mess for me to pick up. I have tried many of times to have a garbage bag on hand to put paper in while they open, but once they start opening, the paper starts flying. LOL!!!

 

[Alice's Mom]

wrap! I love wrapping presents, I make my own bows too.

I do recycle everything I can, and my friends do too, since I have been given back some of my own bows. I re-use all gift bags I receive too, they are too well made for one time use.

 

[crz4mm2]

I use alot of bags. I don't have little kids though. I do think little kids like to tear open wrapping paper (and we burn paper here. YEP, we burn!!!). We reuse our gift bags.We have all types of bags for all types of occassions.

 

[Jockaroo]

I do both. I love to gift wrap with paper (tissue paper especially) and I guess you could say I'm sort of a professional so my stuff looks good. (I worked as a gift wrapper for 4 Christmases at a major dept. store.) I tie my own bows and make garland bead streamers for my packages. I will use gift bags when I can't find a good box and the item is not fragile. But I tie ornaments, beads, streamers or other goodies onto the bag. It usually takes longer for the recipient to get into one of my gift bags than a wrapped box! To me presentation is important. I may not have the most money to spend on my gifts, but I really want the person who receives it to know they are special. And I save boxes, gift bags, bows, etc.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

a few years ago I had read an article about how many millions (or was it billions?) of gift wrap ends up in the landfill the month following Christmas. So, (I am putting on my flame retardant suit now) I bought ten yards of Christmas fabric - all different fun patterns - and I made drawstring bags in a bunch of different sizes. They are cute bags and we use those within our family. After we are all done opeing gifts, we gather the bags and fold them up -- place them in a rubbermaid container and put them away until the next year when we use them again.

No paper wrap, no bows, no tape, no mess. I do however have some of the silver sparkly wire with the stars on it -- we do wrap that on special gifts to jazz up the fabric bags.

(Go ahead -- flame away -- I'm ready.) And before you ask, out kids totally understand why we have no gift wrap. They don't mind at all.

I LOVE this idea!!

 

[ADisneygirl]

I wrap everything and rarely use gift bags unless the item is unwrappable. Nevermind the kids ~ I even love to unwrap my gifts! lol

Anytime I get a gift bag I reuse it. No, not for someone else's present -- I use it for my lunch bag. Everyone at school gets a kick out of my pretty lunch sacks, especially around my birthday when I get a new assortment!

 

[mickeyfan2]

I only use the bags for hard to wrap gifts.

 

[Kahana-ri]

Gift bags are the way to go for me. First, I am terrible at wrapping. Second, I just don't have the time to wrap presents. Its so easy to grab a bag some tissue and be on our way. I save and reuse gift bags I get. Gift bags are big among my family and friends.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

I LOVE this idea!!

if you wait until right after Christmas, all sorts of fun fabric goes on sale for about $1.25 / yard. You can make a ton of bags for not very much money.

 

[Marseeya]

a few years ago I had read an article about how many millions (or was it billions?) of gift wrap ends up in the landfill the month following Christmas. So, (I am putting on my flame retardant suit now) I bought ten yards of Christmas fabric - all different fun patterns - and I made drawstring bags in a bunch of different sizes. They are cute bags and we use those within our family. After we are all done opeing gifts, we gather the bags and fold them up -- place them in a rubbermaid container and put them away until the next year when we use them again.

No paper wrap, no bows, no tape, no mess. I do however have some of the silver sparkly wire with the stars on it -- we do wrap that on special gifts to jazz up the fabric bags.

(Go ahead -- flame away -- I'm ready.) And before you ask, out kids totally understand why we have no gift wrap. They don't mind at all.

Flame you??? Are you kidding? I love that idea! I'd love to get a gift in a handmade bag.

Do you have a pattern for that? I'm so uncrafty, but it would be fun to try.

 

[Marseeya]

Oh, and to answer the OP's question, I do a little of each. I wrap a bunch of stuff, but I use bags for things that are unwieldy. We also make sure to open some gifts for the kids and leave them displayed under the tree.

When I was growing up, my parents didn't wrap anything. Can you believe that? It was such a treat getting gifts from relatives that they took the time to wrap. My parents just left everything under the tree as is. It's strange, but I hold some fond memories of that, which is why I'll do it with a couple of gifts for the kids, but I try to be creative or funny about it. Putting DD's doll on DS's bike... things like that.

 

[WDWAurora]

Oh, and to answer the OP's question, I do a little of each. I wrap a bunch of stuff, but I use bags for things that are unwieldy. We also make sure to open some gifts for the kids and leave them displayed under the tree.

When I was growing up, my parents didn't wrap anything. Can you believe that? It was such a treat getting gifts from relatives that they took the time to wrap. My parents just left everything under the tree as is. It's strange, but I hold some fond memories of that, which is why I'll do it with a couple of gifts for the kids, but I try to be creative or funny about it. Putting DD's doll on DS's bike... things like that.

My parents wrapped gifts that were from them....anything from "Santa" was left unwrapped. I think that kind of makes sense. I'm going to do a mix, mostly wrapping. (I'm even going to individually wrap all of DNephew's Berenstein bear's books-about 20!) If it gets a bag, it will be a wedding-themed bag. We have so many gorgeous ones from the wedding, and I just can't throw them away. So I'm using them for Christmas. And yes, my family (and his) knows that I'm nuts.

 

[Wish I lived in Fl]

Gift bags. Reused usually. Hate waste. want to spend money on the gift.

 

[tiggerlover]

I do both, however, I tend to wrap more than I use the bags.