Wrapping presents!

I buy the reusable shopping bags from the supermarket. They have generic Christmas ones as well as some based on films and other cartoon characters like Winnie and Elf etc. Not only fun but makes keeping everyone's presents separate easier. Also great for gathering up at the end of the day and taking to their ultimate home. £1-2 each and still useful after the big day.

I try to have different paper for each child so I can easily which is for who. I have paper and tags I bought last year which I am still using. For the grown ups I tend to use gift bags and tissue paper. Most of the gift bags have already been used once (I always keep them) a couple are ones I have bought in previous years but not used. So this year I haven't spent anything on wrapping gifts.
I actually enjoy both buying presents and wrapping gifts. For me it is one of the nicest things about Christmas..

I get great joy out of giving gifts and even greater joy wrapping them. I love to create fancy bows and ribbons and love to see people’s faces when they open them. My problem is running out of ideas what to buy my adult children.

Thank you.
I'll definitely be giving my ironing board an airing.

Judy I was just about to post that as my clever tip - I was told this a few years ago after I had spent many years wrapping gifts while kneeling at the side our our bed with the gifts and tags etc. spread out on the duvet cover. Why I don't know - perhaps I was trying to hide from the children when they were small. The ironing board is the perfect table for gift wrapping, isn't it?

I wrap all my presents on the ironing board. Set to right height ensures no backache.

The Japanese wrap their gifts in fabric which is then returned to the gift giver. Seems like a great idea!

That's excellent.
One less thing to worry about.

For various reasons I haven't written cards yet or bought many presents. Thank you so much for this thread, I have just ordered from awful Amazon and it's wonderful to think I can just bung presents in bags and save so much time!!!

I love the fabric bags idea too but doesn't it make them awkward to post?
Presume you would still need to encase the whole thing in brown parcel paper.
Great for local family though

I have used brown wrapping paper for years. It is recycled paper and can be recycled. I tie with proper ribbon...always gold. Last year I discovered some brown card gift tags that I write on with a gold pen. Shiny Christmas wrapping paper is not recyclable.

They sell them on Amazon and presumably Ebay, kwest.
Various prices.

I made Christmas bags of various sizes, last year, for my daughter and me. We'll be using them again this year but I'm busy making more right now because you can never have enough!

I am making Tie Dye Santa sacks out of pillow cases with my 4yr old granddaughter this week. Not sure how they'll turn out but at least we will have fun making them(I hope) I also have Christmas paper to wrap the presents in.

Where did you buy these cloth bags and were they expensive?
My husband bought wrapping paper from Waitrose and thought he had bought a bargain. Big mistake when I read the receipt. Next year I would like cloth bags.

I love wrapping presents, but DH is much better at it than I. He worked as a window dresser in his youth, so he does most of the parcels.

Nowadays, we only have very few people we exchange gifts with, so the current roll of Christmas paper was bought three or four years ago.

Formerly, I have used cloth shopping bags or string bags, which were greatly appreciated by the family members who were taking the bus home afterwards.

I considered the bags part of the gift, but obviously you can ask for them back to reuse next year, if the person you are giving the present to isn¨t putting yours in a cloth bag too. Then it would surely be simpler just to keep the bag you were given.

AreWeThereYet- pillow cases is a great idea- and if you cant make them you could buy them reasonably cheaply enough online at discount textile shops or sales etc.They can hand them back to be washed/ironed saved for next year or reused through the year as extra/spare pillowcases if needed. I may do that next time.??

Next year it will be fabric bags. What a great idea.

Teacheranne- with the rise of omicron might be safer to see new baby BEFORE mingling with all those other people?safety first.?

I agree with Missadventure- i HATE the wrapping- if i had a lot of money (like a lottery win, but i hardly ever do it ?) i would choose & buy the gifts and get them to wrap them also!-it would be my main luxury ?

I don't mind the wrapping and I use Xmas reusable shopping bags out of Poundland to put them in. They can store stuff in them or use them again next year. I saw online that Primark had a great idea that by changing their paper bags to red stripes instead of blue, people can use them as wrapping paper.

I can't go to fabric bags because most of my gifts are posted and it would be a logistical nightmare to get the bags back as wellas adding to their mileage which takes away some of the environmental benefit. I use recyclable/compostable Kraft paper and carrierbags from Amazon.

Sashabel

I only use wrapping paper for my 2 grandchildren. All adults just get theirs in a gift bag with a sheet of tissue paper folded over the top to hide the gift. I get most of the bags given back to me each year and, as long as they are in reasonable condition, I re-use them the following year. I usually get 3 - 4 years out of each bag before it collapses, so feel I am doing a little towards recycling.

I’ve been watching YouTube to learn how to use tissue paper in gift bags to make them really pretty. The clue seems to be to create a fan shape and leave the ends poking out of the bag. I’m going to try that this year- when I finally get round to wrapping the presents! Although my siblings get gift voucher, I also get them a small present to open. There will be 11 of us opening our presents together on Christmas Day with another family of 4 plus a new baby to see on another day.

I'm really struggling with all the wrapping this year. So it's got to change next year, and I like the sound of fabric bags.
Brilliant!

My sister and I “fight” to collect up the gift bags after the present opening ceremony, the menfolk and children just discard them but we want to reuse them next year!