Gift Wrapping Your Personality
Staff Reporter Emily Sharrer

There’s nothing more boring during the holiday season than giving or receiving a typical gift bag with Santa or a picture of a reindeer on the side. This year, show your friends you really care by taking a little extra time to add personal touches to your wrapping.

Forget about the dollar store gift bags and wrapping papers. Trade in these stereotypically printed wrappings for your own personal creations. Buy solid-colored wrapping paper in gold, silver or solid-colored gift bags, and decorate it using markers, stamps or paints from a local craft or Dollar Store. Write your friend’s name, holiday greetings, yuletide song lyrics or other fun messages right on the wrapping.

If you’re feeling brave, you could even draw your own holiday themed pictures on the paper. To go along with your solid-colored gift bags, bright, printed tissue paper or tinsel will help give your gift a little extra flair.

Instead of buying pre-made ribbons or bows to top off your presents, go to the store (Michael’s, Wal-Mart and Target all have good selections) and pick out cute striped, polka-dotted, or other printed ribbons in festive colors.

Take a couple strands of the printed ribbon and pair them with matching solid ribbons and tie them together in the middle and use scissors to curl the ribbons. You can then use your curled ribbon to tie together the handles of your gift bags or set it on top of wrapped gifts in place of those cheap-looking store bought bows.

Another option is to buy thicker ribbon with wire edges and create your own bows. These handmade present-toppers give your gifts a personal touch and also save you a couple extra bucks along the way.

If you want to go a step further, you can include other additions to the outside of your gift that reflect your friend’s personality. If your friend likes music, make a mix CD of their favorite songs or songs you think they would like and tape it to the top of the wrapped present.

Blank CDs are cheap and you can decorate the front of the CD to match the gift. Another idea would be to tie small gifts such as candles, key chains, pens, candy canes, or anything else that your friend would like into the ribbon. This is a cheap way to give your gifts extra personality.

Finally, top off your gifts with homemade tags. You can take colored paper and cut out fun shapes like candy canes or bells and use markers to decorate them and write your friend’s name. Even if you don’t give your friends big expensive gifts, spending a little extra time to give gifts your own personal touch is something your friends will appreciate.