Gift Wrap 101

The gifts under your tree can make or break the aesthetics of your holiday landscape at home. A brightly lit tree shining down on poorly coordinated gift wrap?! The horror! Here are a few tips to keep you on track with your elfish duties.

1. Choose a color palette and stick to it.

A red and white scheme is always a win in my opinion. Nothing could say “classic Christmas” more outright.

Primary colors (especially for kids) are a sweet option.

You could also consider an icy blue palette with a touch of holiday red.

2. Mix prints and patterns within your palette.

3. Vary the materials and trims to add interest.

4. Use simple gift tags so as not to distract from your wrap.

Too boring for your taste? Add ribbon, greens, or other festive baubles.

Of course there are exceptions to these rules. You could go crazy with a different print and color scheme for every package and it might turn out to be fantastic. It’s just harder to ‘get it right’ with this strategy.

For example, you could go with three or four completely different prints that are unified by their styling. This combo of Rifle Paper Co. papers could make for a very merry holiday. In this case, the coloring enhances the match, too (with a golden color appearing in each print)…

You could even add this handmade polka dot kraft paper into the mix. It has the same illustration look which ties it in perfectly with the rest of the happy wrapping family.

Here’s a little peek of what I’ve conjured up this year. Admittedly, it’s not Martha Stewart quality…but I dig it. And though an iPhone is a wonderful thing, it is not the best device to use to highlight your work.

 

 

 

Paper is from the Mara Mi collection at Target (available only in stores – not online). Trimmings include red and white bakers twine (found a large roll at TJ Maxx, but its available all over lately – here’s an affordable option), good old regular twine (purchased at Home Depot), and various other ribbons sourced from Michael’s. The gift tags are revved up sale tags made of a thicker card stock. I found mine in the scrapbooking aisle at Michael’s, but you could totally go an even more utilitarian route (and a likely cheaper one) by checking an office supply store for ultra basic sale tags.

I have other ideas that I’m storing away for next year – one being a collabo between simple kraft paper wrap and these rainbow and glitter pom poms from Blick. I haven’t quite worked out the details yet…but I think I’m getting somewhere…somewhere whimsical.