Before I denounced gifts during the holiday season in favor of minimalism we were quite the annual gift givers. I tried to gift purposeful gifts, even back then, rather than useless junk. I'm not a fan of useless gifts and have been gifted my fair share in this life. Why not give someone something they actually use or just don't gift at all? In 2012 we were participating in one of the secret Santa games for the holiday so we had some presents that presented an opportunity for handmade wrapping.
I had some excess ribbon from my Grandma that I needed to use and it was perfect for repurposing for this project. I also had some gold wrapping paper hanging around from a previous project that was used in this one. I wrapped the presents first and then added the base ribbons for detail. I then chose a photo of each recipient and printed them out. Then I took the photos and mounted them on a custom gift tag and decorated with tulip puff paints I had on hand. For the final details I did some crafty bow work to create large decorative bows for each present. The final touch was gluing a few peppermint candies to the bows for added detail and style.
The final presents were beautiful, shiny and unique with their custom bows, ribbons and peppermint candy details. They were a huge hit at the holiday celebration and easy to recognize and hand out. The little kids of course didn't pay much attention or admire the efforts, but hopefully they enjoyed the inside presents just as much.
The reactions to the presents and custom present wrapping and gift cards were priceless. Everyone loved the detail and complimented the work. I think it added some fun to otherwise stagnant present opening when you're older. I also loved that most of the supplies used in this project were materials I already owned. Reuse, repurpose, recycle. This project embraced that motto and was fun to boot!
One foot deep in creative and one foot deep in the alpine. Designing solutions to solve big challenges & suffering in beautiful places.
