Hello everyone:

With the Christmas season upon us, it seemed like a nice idea to offer some tips on wrapping presents.

First, make sure you have scissors, scotch tape (sorry fellows, this is not the place for your beloved duct tape, no matter how tempting that seems!), gift tags (you can buy them in bulk in the Christmas section of most food stores), wrapping paper, and your gift list. Note: If you are trying to keep things financially even between your children, make a list of who is getting what, how much it cost, and if it is tree-ready. Keep the list hidden from your kids, but don’t forget where you put it. Keep your receipts with the list, in case you need to return something. Also note: I keep receipts for all presents because you never know when something will need to go back.

Wrap your presents on an ironing board that  has been set up or on a high counter. This way, you will not hurt your back by leaning over a table or by sitting on the floor to wrap large presents. To avoid stress, do not wait until Christmas eve to wrap your gifts. Write out the gift tag before you wrap the gift, so that you don’t have to unwrap the gift when you are finished because you got distracted and now you can’t remember what is inside.

Wrap big presents first, so that you are sure that you have enough wrapping paper to cover the box. Save the small leftover pieces to wrap smaller gifts and stocking stuffers. Here goes!

Take the sheet of wrapping paper while it is still on the tube, pull some paper out, and place the gift on it, face down. You need to make sure that you have enough paper to go halfway up on each end, so that you can wrap the ends of the present. Tape the paper to one side of the gift. Pull the paper to meet this edge (with a couple of inches of overlap) and carefully cut the paper to fit. Tape this edge over top of the first edge. Fold the sides of the remaining edges up and tape them securely. Flip the present over and add the gift tag and a bow. (Note: If you are traveling, add the bows to the presents when you arrive at your destination or they will be crushed in transit.)

Since you will usually have leftover paper that you don’t want to have unroll, I secure the leftover paper with a rubber band and store the paper for the next time I wrap presents.  If you do this in several sessions, you will find it more enjoyable and less tiring. If you are giving gift cards, it is still nice to put them in a small wrapped box with a bow on top. Baby steps, fellas! Let me know if you have any questions!

Best,

Dr. Sheri