Might be crazy to you, But I am going to start Xmas wrapping!!

[easyas123]

I haven't even bought any wrapping paper yet
I have it a bit easy though each son & DIL are getting one large gift & a stocking, so not much to wrap. My husband and I don't exchange a lot of gifts or 'big' gifts, usually just stockings.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I like a big, messy, colorful pile under the tree!

Me too! I have 6+ rolls of wrapping paper in use each year. And that's not even for a lot of presents.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I wish I had that kind of motivation... I am just going to use giftbags, and I have yet to even plan for it. I have vacay coming up pretty soon, I plan to knock it out then. I am still waiting on some stuff to arrive.

Gift bags are great! Plus the designs on them can be really beautiful. Personally I don't want to always put something in a box and then wrap it especially if it's because it's a smaller item like the utility/cord straps we bought for sister-in-law and her husband, that can easily be put in a smaller gift bag with some tissue paper. Another good thing to use is those drawstring gift bags which are good for odd shaped stuff too that you don't want to just put in a box.

 

[eticketplease]

I DON'T do this, because I like a big, messy, colorful pile under the tree! I have a lot of issues/trauma associated with Christmas, I know I over-compensate because of that, but I just can't help myself.

I figured I was the only crazy one that did that

 

[Skywalker3]

I haven't even started shopping....I do plan to get a bit of that done this weekend, likely all on-line. DH loves all of this, and has already bought/wrapped a lot of the gifts he's giving. We may end up not having a lot of wrapped stuff. We've talked about not doing stuff just for stuff's sake....not sure what kids want, usually it's money, but hope to get a little something more.

 

[barkley]

gift bags are used (and reused for years on end) in our house for stuff that's too difficult to wrap like plushies (yup, my late 20 somethings still get them but they tend to be anime related) and the annual Christmas Eve p.j.'s. everything else gets wrapped in a variety of paper cuz I've got partial rolls from prior years, stuff i've grabbed on after Christmas sales, silly stuff (with comic book heros and such) i've snagged at the dollar store-and this year a single roll of bluey themed I managed to snag. I also have some Christmas mailing envelopes that are made of a mylar kind of material that I have been known to put d&d books (hate wrapping books and DVDs) in that I take secret delight in knowing they are somewhat difficult to rip open.

I got tired of seeing all the small containers that obviously held gift cards as my kids aged up so I try to put those in boxes in a variety of sizes to throw them off track.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

I grew up in a mixed religion household and also have one myself. Due to this, as a kid, I only experienced Christmas Eve and Christmas. My dad's family didn't put up their tree until Christmas Eve and didn't wrap gifts until that night. Gifts also weren't put out until after midnight and nearly everyone was in bed asleep. Mind you, I saw plenty of shows and movies and went to other people's houses...so, I knew that others did it differently, but for whatever reason, we kept the gift wrapping/gifts under the tree part of the tradition when I got married. So, every year, packages arrive and I just hide them wherever I can and nothing gets wrapped until Christmas Eve. It was tough when the kids believed in Santa because I'd have to explain why everything they get is from Santa and why we never had anything under the tree until they woke up on Christmas morning. As the kids' bedtimes got later, the later I had to wait. So, I'll be drinking and wrapping late on 12/24.

I love the traditions of the holidays! I also know of another family who has always got their tree very, very close to Christmas ( live ) sometimes not until Christmas Eve!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I got tired of seeing all the small containers that obviously held gift cards as my kids aged up so I try to put those in boxes in a variety of sizes to throw them off track.

I'm not a big fan of deceptive gifts but I know I'm in the minority in that opinion. I don't like putting small things in big boxes just so the recipient thinks it's something bigger or do a nesting box situation where someone has to keep opening progressively smaller containers just to get to their gift. In other words I don't want to be thrown off track nor do I want to do that to other people. They have gift card tins and other things that while still might be mostly obvious it's a gift card there's still some flair to the gift packaging.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

I'm not a big fan of deceptive gifts but I know I'm in the minority in that opinion. I don't like putting small things in big boxes just so the recipient thinks it's something bigger or do a nesting box situation where someone has to keep opening progressively smaller containers just to get to their gift. In other words I don't want to be thrown off track nor do I want to do that to other people. They have gift card tins and other things that while still might be mostly obvious it's a gift card there's still some flair to the gift packaging.

Many years ago, we wrapped a gift for my son in an empty Cheerio box, a LARGE size Cheerio box. He was actually OK with getting the Cheerios, which was funny enough! I don't remember what we put in there or even why we did it but it's a great memory!!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Many years ago, we wrapped a gift for my son in an empty Cheerio box, a LARGE size Cheerio box. He was actually OK with getting the Cheerios, which was funny enough! I don't remember what we put in there or even why we did it but it's a great memory!!

I have to laugh at your example because I'd be like your son and be fine with getting cheerios when I was in college I would ask for Hy-Vee (a regional grocery store) gift cards for Christmas from my mom and family because well I needed to eat and groceries for a poor college student meant a lot haha. But my family was giving me that kind of stuff because they knew I'd appreciate it. I know not the point of your comment but I had to laugh at the similar reactions I would have at the gift.


It can definitely be a fun thing for people! that's why I said I know I'm in the minority in my opinion. My husband loves pranks and many around him don't mind getting those types of things but I would not enjoy those kinds of things. It's totally a "know your audience" here

 

[barkley]

I'm not a big fan of deceptive gifts but I know I'm in the minority in that opinion. I don't like putting small things in big boxes just so the recipient thinks it's something bigger or do a nesting box situation where someone has to keep opening progressively smaller containers just to get to their gift. In other words I don't want to be thrown off track nor do I want to do that to other people. They have gift card tins and other things that while still might be mostly obvious it's a gift card there's still some flair to the gift packaging.

nothing deceptive-more creative (and less apt for one of those small gift card tins to accidently end up kicked under the sofa and undiscovered until after new years when the tree comes down and the sofa is moved back to it's place). stuff like when I buy gift cards for the local pizza place i'll ask for a pizza box, GameStop cards in an old discarded gaming box, movie theater cards wrapped in a small box with some dollar store 'movie theater' candy (foils the package shakers efforts), hair salon taped to a container of their favored hair products...

in actuality my 'kids' would likely look at a large sized gift box and think 'what in God's name has mom gotten me now?' b/c the stuff they like (anime, video games, d&d books and dice...) are all fairly small in size and unless I get creative in boxing them a bit differently they can tell at a glance what is under the tree.

I'm not into pranks or being pranked either-though one year my brother got me in a memorable way. long before gift cards when gift certificates were the go-to he wanted to foil any effort on my part to guess what he got me so he found a 50 pound lead bar at his work that was just a bit bigger in size than the gift certificate. he borrowed it, taped the gc to it and put it under the tree. I couldn't even lift the dang thing to try to shake it very surprised when I unwrapped it.

 

[yeahdisney]

Wrapped them all in November and had the tree up in November for the first time ever.

DD never wanted the tree up her birthday is thanksgiving time and she wanted her week

 

[QueenIsabella]

I sometimes do the deceptive wrapping thing. Not so much for Christmas presents under the tree, but we do a "Silly Santa" thing on Christmas Eve--my older son, in particular, wants certain yearly items (like lottery tickets), so this year, those will be in a bigger box with some Rolos, just so it rattles and the size doesn't give it away.

I also re-use boxes and gift bags (my tags get bigger every year). So, just because your box says "Walmart", doesn't mean it came from Walmart.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

nothing deceptive-more creative (and less apt for one of those small gift card tins to accidently end up kicked under the sofa and undiscovered until after new years when the tree comes down and the sofa is moved back to it's place). stuff like when I buy gift cards for the local pizza place i'll ask for a pizza box, GameStop cards in an old discarded gaming box, movie theater cards wrapped in a small box with some dollar store 'movie theater' candy (foils the package shakers efforts), hair salon taped to a container of their favored hair products...

in actuality my 'kids' would likely look at a large sized gift box and think 'what in God's name has mom gotten me now?' b/c the stuff they like (anime, video games, d&d books and dice...) are all fairly small in size and unless I get creative in boxing them a bit differently they can tell at a glance what is under the tree.

I'm not into pranks or being pranked either-though one year my brother got me in a memorable way. long before gift cards when gift certificates were the go-to he wanted to foil any effort on my part to guess what he got me so he found a 50 pound lead bar at his work that was just a bit bigger in size than the gift certificate. he borrowed it, taped the gc to it and put it under the tree. I couldn't even lift the dang thing to try to shake it very surprised when I unwrapped it.

I'm just not into that kind of thing but to the other poster who gave their example knowing your audience is big because some people don't mind it

As you said your intent was to throw them off the track that's deceptive to me.

Obviously this is a bit more debbie downer for the thread but it only takes looking at a few videos of people's reactions to the attempt to disguise what's inside to see why it's not my thing. The example of an old gaming box used to hide the gaming gift card I'd expect the actual game (even if logically it's a game assumedly I knew I had before) instead not a gift card to it, that's a good example of what I mean.

To be fair in all the years that we've given gift cards in special tin boxes and ones we've received none have ever ended up kicked under the sofa or lost. I have one that is a snowflake shape with light blue, white and glitter for example it's given to the person just like any other gift is. But if you're thinking about that it's just as easy for greeting cards to get lost under a sofa.

I know I know debbie downer. I think creativeness can be had with what decorations are used, what the gift actually is, the materials used such as different mediums like burlap, ribbon, string, or things like this






Above pics taken from Google

Not saying I'm actually talented enough to complete the above lol but yeah.

One thing I've liked for the last several years is my sister-in-law tries to include a cute little ornament on her gifts, we've had a moose head, a knit stocking and more which adds a little flare. Often she's added that to either a plain gift card tin or to individually wrapped gift card, she does other things for larger items. I put those small ornaments on the tree (Below are personal pics)



She'll also use part of the gift to put other gifts inside like one year she got the other sister a rope basket and put other gifts inside it and wrapped that but the rope basket was part if the actual gift.

Sorry I know serious level stuff for a more fluff thread

 

[barkley]

I also re-use boxes and gift bags

when my kids were little and it was one birthday party after another us moms used to reuse gift bags over and over! we even joked about starting to write our initials on the bottom of the bags to see if we could track how many times individual bags made their way from kid to kid

 

[Disneyland1084]

I started Christmas shopping in October and started wrapping then. I've wrapped every gift except for a few I'm waiting to receive from Amazon and Etsy. I use to wait until Christmas Eve, never again.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I got tired of seeing all the small containers that obviously held gift cards as my kids aged up so I try to put those in boxes in a variety of sizes to throw them off track.

I definitely like creative wrapping for gift cards! - sometimes I put them in an inexpensive photo frame or something, just to have something to wrap instead of just an envelope.

Many years ago, we wrapped a gift for my son in an empty Cheerio box, a LARGE size Cheerio box. He was actually OK with getting the Cheerios, which was funny enough! I don't remember what we put in there or even why we did it but it's a great memory!!

Or most famous one wasn't even meant to be a misdirect. - Years ago I was mailing a few small things to a family member and used the box our popcorn popper had come in. I got a thank-you note a few weeks later... for the pop-corn popper! I had to call her and tell her to open the box, and ever since then, her gifts have been labeled "NOT a ____" on the tag.

 

[QueenIsabella]

I definitely like creative wrapping for gift cards! - sometimes I put them in an inexpensive photo frame or something, just to have something to wrap instead of just an envelope.


Or most famous one wasn't even meant to be a misdirect. - Years ago I was mailing a few small things to a family member and used the box our popcorn popper had come in. I got a thank-you note a few weeks later... for the pop-corn popper! I had to call her and tell her to open the box, and ever since then, her gifts have been labeled "NOT a ____" on the tag.

One year, I picked up some boxes at Walmart that were meant for gag gifts (and marked down). Things like a toaster bacon maker or other weird items that made you scratch your head. They were particularly funny after my oldest got a box for LL Bean slippers that she was really excited about...until she opened the box and found something else. (I don't remember what, now).

 

[fla4fun]

I don’t think it’s deceptive to try to disguise a gift that can be easily discerned if wrapped as is. My BIL has quite the DVD collection, and if those are wrapped as they come it’s obvious what it is. By wrapping it in a plain brown box in a different size, there is a little mystery attached that makes the season last a little longer. We also have a few odd shaped boxes that get used frequently, like an oval box, that we know from the shape it’s one of the odd boxes and that there is no way to guess what is inside. If we have something that is too cumbersome to wrap, like the year we bought Mom a large area rug, we do a scavenger hunt and hide the gift. Sometimes when ordering online, a gift might arrive that is not in a box (for example, in a FedEx envelope) so we would typically find a box to fit. I received a gift one year in a plain brown box that has a little player inside that plays When You Wish Upon A Star. That box gets used frequently too.

I do think it can be cruel to wrap a gift in a box like a game box if the person would have really wanted what the box represents. My goal is not to disappoint the recipient but to surprise them.

I have not started wrapping yet, but I have no one in the house snooping either. They will all be wrapped by Christmas.

 

[Tiggerish]

I have all my Christmas decorating done, my presents bought, wrapped and ready to go. The bags underneath the tree are the items for each persons ' stockings. Done for now but couple of days before Christmas I will do some cookie baking and candy making.