Wrapping Up 2020: Tips and Ideas for Gift Wrapping

All this week on Instagram some friends and I have been sharing some gift wrapping ideas. You see, we are assuming that there are lots of other intelligent, creative, practical and oh so far behind people like us who still don’t have all their presents wrapped for Christmas.

Maybe you are still waiting on a few to arrive?

Well, we’ve got you covered!

Today Emily and I are going to share our gift wrapping ideas with y’all here on our blogs and at the bottom of this post I will provide links to the Instagram posts of my other 3 friends. You will find their ideas in their highlights section of their Instagram profile page.

Let’s get started!

I thought I would use some leftover paper from last year to give you an idea for a more traditional, somewhat rustic Christmas look. I often mix some plaid or flowered papers with reds and greens in with regular brown paper that I embellish.

I also picked up this neutral, cream and white paper at Walmart this year for a more elegant look. That is my personal favorite.

For the more traditional paper, I taped the end of a piece of twine on the BACK of the present and then wrapped the other end around and around until I liked the look. After cutting the second end, I also taped that to the BACK of the present. Then I moved the twine this way and that until I liked the spacing.

Next I took a small grapevine wreath that I had laying around and cut a long piece of twine. I tied the twine around the wreath and knotted it, leaving even lengths of twine tail on each side. Then I slid the twine behind a couple wraps of twine on the present and knotted it to hold it in place.

I strung 3 small gold jingle bells onto the twine on either side (2 on one tail and 1 on the other) and then tied the twine into a bow. I added a large stocking tag to finish the look.

Now for a much more neutral and elegant Christmas look, I took my white and gold paper wrapped gift and added some satin ribbon. I left the tails VERY long and cut the ends in a v shape. I wrapped it just one way around the present and knotted it in the front.

Next I tied a bow and pulled it as tight as I could, then tied another bow. While tightening the second bow you need to place a finger on the first one to hold it tight and prevent it from being untied. I like to do this so that I can leave my ribbon super long. That way I can reuse it again some other time or the person who I give the gift to can save it and use it for something.

Next I grabbed some random lengths of leftover lace and trim bits (I like to save anything that is about 5″ or longer and use it for things like this!), put them together and found the middle. I took a length of twine and tied the trim together at this middle point.

Then I looped the twine underneath the satin knot and tied and knotted it tightly to hold the lace in place. I left the twine tails on still.

I grabbed a little snowflake ornament (these ones look like ice and I love them!) and using the twine I tied it on as well, knotting the twine. Then I cut the ends of the twine close to the knot.

All that was left was to tuck a little piece of frosted boxwood behind the ribbon.

For the next present I took some narrower satin ribbon and tied it around the present knotting it in the front. I left the tails a reasonable length to tie a single bow. I cut the ends at an angle.

Next I took the same width ribbon and tied it around the present the opposite direction, also knotting it in the front and leaving about the same about of ribbon. I also cut the ends at an angle.

I tied both ribbons into bows.

The last thing I did was to take a mini bottle brush tree, wrap a piece of twine around it and tie it onto the package around the middle of the bows. I knotted the twine and cut off the excess.

For the final present that I’m showing you, I took a length of lace, wrapped it around the upper 3rd of the present and taped the ends on the BACK of the present.

Next I wrapped this twine around it that has tiny clothespins with snowflakes on them. I bought it at Dollar Tree a year or two ago (not sure if they have the same thing this year but I’m sure Hobby Lobby would have something like this). I believe they are made for displaying Christmas cards (string it up and clip the cards into the clothespins) but that’s okay! I taped the ends of the twine on the BACK of the present as well and cut off the excess. I left just 5 clothespins on the length I cut to arrange across the front of this size package.

I cut tiny pieces of the frosted boxwood and clipped them into the clothespins. In the middle one I clipped a little Santa tag. I don’t know what the original purpose was for these Santa tags that I bought this year at Hobby Lobby. They are very thick and stiff and have a white back. I liked the sort of vintage look to them so I punched a hole in the tops of them and have been tying them onto presents this year as tags. Because the back is white you can write the To and From on the back of them.

I love how they turned out and, in case you can’t tell, I like wrapping presents and trying to make them beautiful enough to be part of the Christmas decor. In fact, you can wrap empty boxes really pretty and use them as decor for an inexpensive way of filling a large space.

Emily’s Tips

As promised, you can see the ideas Emily is sharing for gift wrapping by clicking the photo below.

My other friends

Click on any of the photos below to go to the Instagram profile of some of my friends. You will find their wrapping tips in their highlights section.

I’m so glad you stopped by. I sure hope this gave you some ideas to help with your gift wrapping this holiday season.

Until next time, sweet friends…