Santa’s super wrapping ideas for oversized gifts
Christmas is coming. At the North Pole, Santa, Mrs. Claus and the elves must be working overtime to make holiday toys and gifts. As everyone knows, the winter holiday shopping season starts months before Yuletide begins.
Often, Christmas is the time of year when Santa and families and friends splurge on big-ticket gift items, such as home entertainment centers, sound systems, major appliances and even vehicles. These extravagant gifts are difficult to package. How do you gift-wrap a brand-new horse trailer, a hot convertible sportster, or even a tricycle?
Sometimes, even less costly items may be oversized and somewhat unwieldy for gift-wrapping. A sled, a craft easel, a dollhouse, a standing floor lamp, or a beanbag chair may present special gift-wrapping challenges too.
Much of the fun of Christmas gift-giving is watching recipients unwrap their holiday treasures. What’s a generous gift-giver’s solution to the gift-wrapping dilemma?
Here are Santa’s super gift-wrapping strategies for oversized or bulky Christmas gifts.
Wrap It. Wrap It big.
Some oversized gifts, though large, still lend themselves well to traditional gift-wrapping. A new computer (still in the original shipping container), DVD player, or filing cabinet can certainly be wrapped.
Generally, geometric shapes (such as rectangles, squares, cylinders or cones) can be wrapped, regardless of their size. If your gift items are heavy and bulky, you may need to enlist a gift-wrapping assistant to help you lift and maneuver the packaging.
However, store-bought holiday wrapping paper does not usually fit larger packages. To gift-wrap these, you will need oversized paper. Purchase a roll of extra-wide mural paper at a craft store or art supply shop. As an alternative, pick up a roll of banquet table-runner paper. A third option might be to offer to purchase a leftover newsprint roll remnant from the local newspaper, if their presses still use rolled newsprint. (Many still do.)
If you wish, you can decorate these plain oversized papers with paints, markers, holiday stickers, ribbons or other embellishments.
NOTE: Written by this author, this copyrighted material originally appeared on another publisher’s site. That site no longer exists. This author holds all rights to this content. No republication is allowed without permission.
Piece together gift wrapping paper for oversized gifts.
Oversized gifts that are square or rectangular may still be wrapped in festive holiday gift wrapping papers. Standard- or jumbo-sized gift wrapping paper can be doubled up to cover larger presents.
Simply unroll gift wrap in a large, open room. Measure and cut a single sheet of wrapping paper to encircle the oversized gift. Cut a second sheet of wrapping paper to the identical length. Lay both sheets of wrapping paper adjacent to one another (printed sides down), lining up ends and edges. Be sure to overlap the shared edges by about an inch.
Place books or paperweights on the corners of the wrapping paper sheets to prevent recoiling.
Use long strips of wide, clear packing tape to affix the two sheets of wrapping paper together.
Wrap the oversized Christmas gift, lining it up so that the taped seam will be in the center of the package. Trim the wrapped present with wide ribbon, covering the taped seam.
Bag Big Gifts.
If a Christmas gift is oversized, but not huge, you can use an extra-large clean trash bag, a lawn refuse disposal bag, a Christmas tree disposal sack, a fancy pillowcase, or a store-bought holiday drawstring bag to gift-wrap it.
Simply place the big gift into the bag, and tie or tape it closed. Add a holiday bow, if you wish. Sometimes, Santa’s best gift-wrapping can be quite simple and speedy.
Tie It All Up.
Many oversized Christmas gifts are odd-shaped items. Presents that do not fit into a carton or box can be difficult to gift-wrap in the traditional manner. Suppose you need to gift-wrap a large figurine, a small electric fountain or a piece of garden statuary. How will you do it?
You can easily disguise many sorts of odd-shaped gifts by hiding inside a few layers of disposable plastic holiday tablecloths or tarps.
Plastic tablecloths are available in nearly unlimited color and holiday design choices at party supply stores. (Often, the dollar-type stores offer these as well.) Purchase plenty of these, as they tend to be somewhat transparent and delicate to use for gift-wrapping.
Lay out a few plastic tablecloths on the floor or a large flat surface. (Stagger a few colors together, if you wish.) Place your oversized Christmas gift in the center of the tablecloths. Take up all of the corners, and hold them together, forming a hobo-sack-like bag. Tie the sack closed with sturdy holiday ribbons, yarn, twine or string.
Drape a Big Gift.
Of course, some oversized Christmas gifts are simply too heavy and grand-sized to lift. For example, how might you gift-wrap a new piano or a piece of furniture, once it has been delivered and assembled?
Don’t panic. Simply head for the linen closet, and grab a large sheet, blanket bedspread, beach towel, or coverlet. (You can even unzip a sleeping bag for this purpose.) Gently drape it over the oversized Christmas gift. Fasten the drape closed with large safety pins or diaper pins. Tack on a gift tag, and it’s ready for Christmas morning. You might even purchase a new sheet or spread and make it part of the gift.
Be sure to keep the prying present-pinchers and nosy gift-peekers away from your draped presents, so they do not ruin Santa’s surprise.
Embellish a Big Box.
Many oversized Christmas gifts do arrive in big boxes. Even if these are heavy and unwieldy, you can certainly disguise a big box. Cover it with sticky opaque or ornamental contact paper, or simply paint it, instead of gift-wrapping it.
Handprints, stenciled holiday designs, sponge-painting patterns, vegetable-stamped prints and other adornments can make festive costumes for a large carton. The main point is to hide any of the manufacturer or product distributor’s images, identifying tags, labels or printed descriptions that might reveal the contents of the box.
Where can you obtain big cartons, if oversized Christmas gifts do not come prepackaged?
Often, large boxes are available (free for the asking) at furniture and appliance stores. Be sure to call ahead to request leftover cartons, as trash pickups are regularly scheduled. In addition, moving and storage companies often offer boxes for sale. Friends and neighbors may be thrilled to pass along used cartons for Santa’s use.
Think outside the box with oversized gifts.
Sometimes the most creative gift wrapping for oversized gifts actually offers a bonus gift in itself. The packaging may even fit the theme of the gift. Laundry baskets, hampers, picnic coolers, tents, and brand-new muck buckets can make super gift packaging.
Have a Treasure Hunt.
When my children were young, Santa loved to add a bit of mystery to Christmas morning by hiding some of the larger gift items. A small gift-wrapped box might appear under the Christmas tree. Once a child opened the box, he or she might discover the first clue in a Christmas morning holiday treasure hunt. One clue would lead to another, until the actual gift would be discovered, usually in the basement, attic, garage or other secret spot.
Our Christmas treasure hunts are treasured holiday memories. Many times, a child might have pleaded for a certain item (such as a new bike) and seemed somewhat crestfallen to find that gift apparently absent on Christmas morning. Later, when the gift is uncovered, the child may be particularly delighted.
Don’t Wrap the Biggest Items at All.
Hide oversized gifts at a trusted neighbor’s house. Santa can retrieve them on Christmas Eve and place them in an appropriate spot for Christmas morning showcasing. A big red holiday bow might be just enough to dress up a brand-new sports car, motorcycle, all-terrain vehicle, snowmobile, scooter or bicycle.
Of course, a perky holiday ribbon bow is the ideal gift-wrapping for a living gift, such as a puppy or a kitten.
Can you imagine the look of surprise that will appear on recipients’ faces when they enter the family room (or the garage) on Christmas morning and find their much-anticipated holiday gifts on display?
Christmas Creativity Counts.
Much of the fun of Christmas gift-giving is watching recipients unwrap holiday gifts. But finding creative ways to wrap oversized gifts can be an enjoyable adventure as well.
Related Items:
· 9 ways to repurpose old Christmas cards
· Got Christmas in the mail yet?
· Mrs. Santa’s been horsing around in her workshop again
Image/s: vintage public domain artwork
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