I go to a lot of parties. Not the fun adult kind that start at night and you get to dress up. I’m talking kid parties. With a kindergartener your weekends are pretty much spent shuffling from one party to another. What is a crafty mother to do? I’ll tell you what she does – she wraps the cutest gift in the pile.
Sure I have my own giant stockpile of vintage wrapping paper (are you really surprised) but with handy dandy books like Pretty Packages: 45 Creative Gift-Wrapping Projects by Sally J. Shim you can make any type of wrapping adorable. Add some washi tape, stitching or a paper flower and the most plain Jane of wrapping paper just jumped to the top of the gift pile.
One of the things I really like about Pretty Packages is that it is more than just gift wrapping eye candy. This book teaches you all kinds of crafty skills which are not only adorable on packages, but would also look great in all kinds of a paper crafts. The book has clear instructions on how to make yarn pompoms, bows out of wood veneer and even how to whip up a no-sew felt gift box.
After reading through Pretty Packages I’m actually looking forward to going to my next birthday party. Well let me rephrase that, I’m looking forward to wrapping the gift for the next birthday party. Maybe I’ll get crazy and make the wrapping paper, bow and even the gift card. There are after all 45 creative options in the book.
I leave you with a few of my favorite gift wrapping tips…
1) Mix and match your new and vintage gift wrapping.
2) Use photos as your gift tag. I find that Instagram photos are a great size for this.
3) Raid your craft supplies (yarn, washi tape, scrapbooking embellishments).
4) Keep a gift closet. If you go to as many parties as I do stockpiling kid gifts when you find cute, clever and cheap ones is not a bad idea.
5) Think outside the bag. Grab a copy of Pretty Packages and make wrapping gifts as much fun for you as it is for the recipient to open.
Thank you so much for the sweet review! Love the packages you created!