| Issue #38, December 14, 2006 |
Wrap At Home. There’s No Line
Not all of us are as lucky as Candy, Tori Spelling’s mother and widow of producer Aaron Spelling, whose 56,000-square-foot, $150-million-dollar mansion has a room dedicated to gift-wrapping. Yet, we are all going to buy presents this year, small and big, that will need to be wrapped. If you are sick of fetching the scissors from the study, the tape from the kitchen, and the wrapping paper from under the bed, without your family spotting their unwrapped gifts before you give them, keep your supplies in place by creating your very own temporary gift-wrapping room.
The room will need a secure door, so you can thwart family members from sneaking up on you. When it’s their turn to wrap, this will keep your eager eyes away, too. Now, don’t worry, you don’t need to build an extra room – you don’t even need to rearrange furniture. All you really need to do is designate a room, or part of room, that has a table and enough open space or shelving for supplies. In my family, the room that we always transform into the gift-wrapping room is the dining room. My dining room has a secure door and an open table (since we only eat there on the holidays and by Christmas dinner the gifts will already be wrapped and under the tree). A basement, living room, spare or guest bedroom, kitchen, front porch or even attic can be transformed into a gift-wrapping room.
If you are asking yourself, “Why do I need a gift-wrapping room at all” then read on, as gift-wrapping is actually very important and should not be overlooked. Gifts have been wrapped ever since 105 A.D. when the Chinese invented paper. In Europe, wallpaper, first made in England in 1509, was the forerunner of gift-wrap. By the early 20th century, gifts all over the world were being wrapped in plain brown paper or tissue. In the early 20th century, however, America joined the gift-wrap industry by way of Hallmark founder Joyce C. Hall’s store. Hall is known for being the founder of the greeting card industry, but he can also be credited with the invention of present-day gift-wrap. Some decorative papers from France were brought from the manufacturing plant and put on top of a showcase, for 10 cents a sheet and sold it quickly. Before Christmas in 1917, the Hall Brothers’ store had sold out of the white, red, green and holly-patterned tissue customers used to wrap holiday packages. The next year, the sheets were offered at three for 25 cents, and they sold out again. Soon, gift-wrap became the first product Hallmark made besides greeting cards. Today, Hallmark is the leader of the gift-wrap industry.
In order to make a great gift-wrapping room, that will alleviate stress during the holidays, whether you wrap all in one night or over the next couple of weeks, you will need to clear all of your clutter out of the space you designate as the gift-wrapping room. This will free up the room you need to store wrapping supplies. You should then choose a gift-wrap organizer, or make one yourself. A rolling cart is great for mobility and an organizer that hangs in a closet or slides under a bed conserves space. No matter what, make sure that you don’t end up with a mess of colored paper and ribbons on the floor on Christmas Eve. Make the effort to make it look like a wrapping room, not a sorority house.
Have a checklist of the supplies you need, such as wrapping paper, ribbons, tape, scissors, pens, tags, bags, tissue paper, boxes and bows, on hand at all times. A hard, flat surface is the key to making perfect corners and all-around, beautifully wrapped gifts. Lighting is also important, as you must be able to actually see where and what you are taping. Keep a broom or vacuum handy, depending on the room’s flooring, to sweep or vacuum up all of those extra clippings, tape and ripped cards. To avoid the stress of wrapping multiple gifts while other family members need “the room,” be aware of your schedule. Play some music and sip some eggnog to keep your sprits alive while you wrap.
This year, when the gifts are bought and you find yourself dragging those plastic shopping bags home, get ahead of the game and have your space planned out. Making a simple area designated for the art gift-wrapping can ease your stress and can also make a difference for the person receiving the gift, since we all know that unwrapping them is the very best part.
– Victoria L. Cooper
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