10 tips to wrap up Christmas

Piles of presents to wrap?  Looking for painless ways to make your Christmas gifts beautiful?

There are many blogs, videos and websites dedicated to methods of enrobing and adorning your precious gifts, so make a statement under your tree this year and try a few of these tips and techniques.

 

1. Wrap on a hard surface. It may be tempting to lay things out on the carpet but you’ll get a smoother finish if you wrap on a table top.
2. Use double sided tape. Ordinary sticky tape serves a purpose but doesn’t look attractive, so why not hide it by using double sided?
3. No tape? There are methods for wrapping presents without tape which can look fantastic, have a look at this video for an amazing Japanese technique.
4. Another alternative is wrapping presents in a scarf rather than paper – no tape or ribbons required, and the scarf is a reusable extra gift! See these instructions for the art of furoshiki, or Japanese scarf wrapping.

5. Paper bags, brown paper and even newspaper used for present wrapping can not only be economical but can give an attractive rustic look, particularly when decorated with stamps, raffia or ribbons.
6. Layering wrapping paper gives a sophisticated effect – try using plain brown paper to wrap the gift then encircle with a strip of colourful wrapping paper. It has the added advantage of using up those awkward leftover strips of wrapping paper not large enough for a present, as well.
7. Use playing cards as gift tags! Doesn’t everyone have an old pack lying around the house with a few missing cards? Repurpose them as quirky Christmas gift tags.
8. Recycle old wrapping paper by passing it through a shredder, then you have colourful strands of paper to use to line gift boxes and bags.
9. If you want a deceptively simple decorative touch, have a look at the video here to learn how to make ribbon roses to go on your gifts.
10. Once your gifts are all wrapped, be sure to take a note of the last posting dates below, if you’re not giving the gift in person.

 

Last Posting Dates for Christmas 2017

Sat 2^nd Dec – Africa, Middle East

Wed 6 Dec – Cyprus, Malta, Asia, Far East, Eastern Europe (except Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia)

Thur 7 Dec – Caribbean, Central and South America

Sat 9 Dec – Greece, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand

Mon 11 Dec – International Standard to static HM Forces Mail

Wed 13 Dec – Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Poland

Thur 14 Dec – Canada, Finland, Sweden, USA

Fri 15 Dec – Austria, Denmark, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland

Sat 16 Dec – Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg

Wed 20 Dec – 2^nd Class post

Thur 21 Dec – 1^st Class post and Special Delivery Guaranteed

Fri 22 Dec – Special Delivery Guaranteed Saturday Delivery

 

Merry Christmas from the team at Pink Spaghetti!