Tie It With a Bow

I have to first start off by saying how beyond thrilled I am that the new season of Martha kicked off yesterday. Let me hear a Hip Hip Horray! But my day was finally made complete last night when the new season of Dancing with the Stars also premiered. Okay, you can stop laughing now. I’m serious. Aside from taking Cotillian classes, I never took ballet or tap or any other type of dance classes for that matter growing up, so I really can’t explain my Dancing with the Stars obsession. However, I’m going on record right now as saying that Mario Lopez is the one to beat (remember Slater from Saved by the Bell? Well he can really shake his bon bon. Who knew?). Yep, you heard it hear first. But let’s move on to other things today, such as gift wrapping.

I’d received an inquiry from Laura on my opinion regarding gift bags, when and when not to use them, and any helpful wrapping suggestions in general. And if you know anything at all about monogram momma of course I’ve got an opinon and advice on gift wrap, Laura (I mean come on, you must know I’ve got an opinon on just about everything by now)! Now, as a general rule, if gift-wrapping is an option from little boutiques and I know what that the end result is going to be of equal cuteness as to how I myself would wrap it up for my recipient, then I say by all means, have them wrap it. It is one less thing I’ve got to do and I can go ahead and mark that off my never ending “to-do” list. However, sadly, there are some stores whose idea of gift wrapping consists of throwing it in a bag with their name on it. That, my friends, is not acceptable for gift giving in monogram momma’s book. While we’re on the subject of bags, let me just say that as a general rule, no, I do NOT like to gift wrap with a bag. Why, you ask? Because you’re not really wrapping. To me a gift bag says you didn’t take the time to wrap my gift. You just grabbed a bag, some tissue, and threw it in there. The exception to this, is when you are giving a gift that really can’t be wrapped (such as a child’s toy, when they very often come in oddly shaped boxes with all sorts of edges and angles. BTW, Why do they do this?) and that’s when you use cute clear cellophane bags and lots of fun fringe or ribbon, and a gift sticker (such as the ones I did for the mini monograms). But while this is just my own personal opinon on wrapping and I know you’re really looking for some more fun wrapping ideas, I consulted an expert, sister 2 (okay, so I’m just calling her an expert. She doesn’t actually make a living from this or anything). See, sister 2 is a world class wrapper and truly believes that the wrapping itself should be part of the actual gift, which you must know I entirely agree about. She makes each gift look like a piece of art, that you almost can’t bear to tear it open. But of course we all do because we really want to know what’s inside, right? But I digress…

You’ll notice I’ve got pictures of my sisters wrapping trim box full of all it’s goodies inside, as well as individual pictures of trims she likes to use a lot interspersed throughout this entry. Just consider this your heads up on what’s what today (clearly my mind is all over the place with this post). So after spending some time with my sister and her graciously sharing her creative ideas, I hope you will all be as excited to learn from her as I was, so let’s talk paper. First of all, when you’re buying wrapping paper, it’s always a great idea to mix mediums. You know, a plaid and solid together compliment each other nicely. Or a stripe and polka dot. There’s certainly no rule that says you have to use just one type of paper to wrap a gift. By using different papers that are in the same family to wrap a gift, your giving it much more appeal and interest. This goes for ribbons too. See how great this stripe and polka-dot ribbon look together? For instance, sister 2 will often wrap a box in one paper, then make a sort of belt or band to wrap around the center of the package in another complimentary paper. You can then do something simple like adding a personalized gift sticker to the top of the belt then, or, add something really fun, like she would do, such as individual pom pom’s. Also consider using other fun things to wrap your gift such as crepe paper. It’s so inexpensive and looks so cute if you wrap it around your gift and make a striped pattern with different colors of crepe paper to wrap the gift. Just be creative with your gift wrap!

So now that the gift is wrapped, lets wander on over to the trim section in our local sewing or craft store. The trim section, with its fringe and pom- poms and beading, is a fabulous, yet often forgotten place to buy items to use for wrapping. Buy the pom-poms (or ball fringe) by the yard, remove the pom-poms, and individually gluing each pom pom to the top of your gift wrap produces a super fun, three dimensional wrapped gift, sure to entice the recipient. Want another idea? Buy some pretty grosgrain ribbon, and make a little flower with the ribbon, and glue a button in the middle to top off your package. Sometimes, you can even use your gift to wrap the package! For instance a cute gift of a ribbon watch and matching belt, could be wrapped with the belt in a small box, and the watch fastened around the outside of the wrapped package as your ribbon! Genius I say!


But wait, that’s not all! *saying this in infomercial announcer-type voice* While your at the craft store, make sure you pick up some silk flowers, silk birds and butterflies to attach onto gift wrapping or ribbon. A silk gerber daisy looks beautiful on solid colored paper. Can’t you just picture a pink box trimmed in fun fringe and topped off with a bright orange gerber daisy? I’m smiling ear to ear just thinking about it. But speaking of fun fringe, you can see the picture here of what fun fringe is, or buy it from Plum Party, an awesome party and wrapping source. Visiting sites such as Plum Party, Whimsey Press, and Name Maker (my favorite!) will help get your creativity flowing and give you some great ideas.

So, a funny story…. Yesterday on Martha, she was talking about how she was invited to a 25th anniversary party for a Rockefeller, and really, what on earth do you give a Rockefeller? So finally she came up with a huge tray that had 25 individual small square baskets laid out in a perfect pattern to fill the tray, and each little basket contained a special delight grown in Martha’s garden. One had fresh tomato’s, one had fresh cucumbers, etc, etc. you get the idea. So as she was carrying this huge and heavy gift tray up the long driveway, she heard one guest quietly say to another who was behind her, “Wow, look at that gift! It’s So ‘Martha Stewart’!” and the one guest replied to the other, “That IS Martha Stewart!!”

The moral of the story? Think outside the box! Let your presentation be equally as important as the gift because if you have a so-so gift that you’re not particularly excited about, go all out with the wrapping because it will seem so much more. And remember, you don’t always have to tie it with a bow!