Christmas Gift Wrapping Ideas

SANTA CLAUS Use brightly colored wrapping paper with Santa Claus as the theme. Tie the ribbon diagonally on 2 corners of the box. But bows in the middle of each diagonal ribbon.

GLITTERING BALLS Wrap box in silver wrapping paper. Wrap wide red satin ribbon in an off-center regulation tie. Tie a nice red, round bow and place it where the ribbons meet. Add some sparkle with small silver Christmas balls and strands of silver tinsel.

SNOWMAN Bits of white cotton or cotton balls can be taped on the gift wrapped package with a snowman theme. Glue the cotton balls into the shape of a snowman and add some whimsical cotton balls on the package to resemble snow balls. Draw nose and eyes with a permanent marker. Add a happy ribbon.

ANGELS Wrap your gift in wrapping paper with an angel theme. Tie white or gold ribbon in a simple knot. Place foil star stickers on the package.

CHRISTMAS CARD Save last year's Christmas cards and cut out the pictures with decorative scissors to make unique edges. Cut out a larger piece of paper for the frame. Glue or tape the larger piece of paper to the package, then glue or tape the Christmas card cut-out on top. Attach a ribbon diagonally and place a bow on the package. To make this extra fancy, lightly dip the edges of the card cut-out or the paper frame in glue, then in glitter. Allow to dry before attaching to your package.

STARRY SNOW Wrap your package in wrapping paper with a snow motif. Attach a large bow and place star or snow stickers to the loops and ends of the bow.

CHRISTMAS BOWS A simple, yet elegant look. Take a large bow and attach it to your wrapped package. Place a smaller bow of a contrasting color in the center of the large bow.

THREE TIERS A package to impress! When you are giving several small gifts to a person, try wrapping each separately then tying them all together. You can use different wrapping paper for each gift either in solid colors or in prints. Tape each package to each other in the center as you stack them. Tie them all together with a ribbon. A big bow decorated with a spray of evergreen will be the perfect complement to this package.

TAILORED PACKAGE Wrap your box in wrapping paper. Tape 2 lengths of ribbon around the box to divide it into thirds. Place a long bow the middle that is big enough to touch the two lengths of ribbon on the package.

CANDY CANES Choose a gift wrap with candy canes and tie a couple of miniature candy canes on your package with the bow.

PINE CONES Tie some fresh pine cones onto your package. Make them even more festive by paining the tips with glue and sprinkling on some glitter. Sprigs of holly are also a nice addition to any gift wrapped for Christmas.

CAKES OR COOKIES Wrap the cake or cookies in a box. Use a wider ribbon wrapped flat around the box. Place a narrower ribbon flat around the box directly on top of the wider ribbon. Attach a lovely bow in the center.

FOOD OR GIFT BASKET Gift baskets will be doubly welcome if arranged similar to this. Line the basket with crepe paper and lace paper doilies and cover the outside edge with ruffled crepe paper. You can find ruffle edge that cake decorators use as an edge around cake plates at party supply or cake decorating supply stores. The ruffle can even be glued to the lower edge of the basket. If giving fruit, each piece of fruit may be wrapped in cellophane. Ribbon bows on the handle will give an additional bit of glamour. You can even put 1 ribbon on each side of the handle of the basket at different levels and "attach" the 2 with ribbons across the handle between them.

JELLY JARS or JARS OF MIX Place the jars, wrapped in cellophane on a food tray or piece of cardboard covered with lace paper doilies. Tie the jars in place with ribbon and add a big bow. Single jars of fruit or vegetables may be arranged in a similar way. If you're wrapping jars of bath items, you could also add a decorative wash cloth or fingertip towel to cover the tray, basket, or cardboard. Make sure you cover the cardboard with wrapping paper first to make it more decorative.

CANDY BOX A plain off-center tying with extra wide ribbon always makes a box of candy attractive. Choose a paper suitable to the particular occasion.

ROUND TINS A round tin box is wrapped with wrapping paper. Attach a bright, big bow and then any decorative figurine can be glued to the center of the bow so that the bow is surrounding it, but the figurine is visible above it.

When your box is just a little too large to wrap with a single sheet of gift wrapping paper, cut a second piece the width of the box top, and long enough to extend well down on both ends, If necessary, hold in place with Scotch Tape.

Now proceed to wrap the box as described in How To Wrap Your Box, fastening the edges of the large sheet to the extra piece as necessary, If the box cannot be turned upside down, arrange the tying ribbon to cover the piecing of the wrapping paper.

When the box is so large that two whole sheets must be used, wrap one half of the box at a time. Place one sheet of paper extending the correct length beyond one end. Fasten at the center with Scotch Tape, then wrap just as if you were doing both ends. Repeat on the opposite end with a second sheet of paper.

A very large package may require four sheets of paper. It is usually easier to fasten the sheets together with Scotch Tape before starting to wrap the box. Working on the wrong side, fasten the two long edges of two sheets together, overlapping them about 1". Then fasten the now long edges of the double sheets together in the same way.

When the gift is so large and heavy that it cannot be handled, a wide band of wrapping paper may be placed around it and a bow made from strips of similar wrapping paper. Cut strips 5" or 6" wide and use one piece for each loop of the bow. Cellophane is attractive for this.

Lay box on its side on a piece of wrapping paper long enough to go around it and overlap about 11/2" (less for a small package) and wide enough to extend a little more than one half the diameter at both ends.

Roll the paper around the box tightly and smoothly. Fasten with Scotch Tape. Now fold the ends down in small pleats and hold with gummed seal. Repeat on other end. Tie and add bows as desired.