Wraphilosophy

Welcome to The Gift Wrap Blog! You may be wondering, "Why would one waste perfectly good and clean internet space on something so trivial as gift wrap?"

At the beginning of December, I got to thinking about the things we exchange with one another on these culturally specified points in time called "holidays." Personally, I'm a dreadful gift giver. I tend to over think the appropriateness of a gift to pain-staking extremes, and still put off buying gifts until the last minute. I'm not a particularly good gift receiver either; it's tricky to choose a reactionary interjection that isn't too enthusiastic (OOOH!!!), yet still not too subtle (oh...).

Despite this, I am obsessed with wrapping paper, greeting cards, ribbon and baubles; moreover, I love the ways in which we present our stuff to one another and the ritual involved. It's interesting to ponder WHY we wrap gifts at all. We are in a recession and don't (or shouldn't) spend our extra cash on a decorative luxury. We are a recycling conscious community who frowns upon using excess paper, especially if it is ultimately to be thrown away. We try to remind ourselves that it is what's on the inside that counts. Still, we continue to bundle our packages in pretty papers and bows, even if it means splurging or being a tad wasteful.

I suck at wrapping. Really, it's not always cute. However, by wrapping gifts, I think we show our receivers a sign of appreciation and love. I maintain that it doesn't matter how good a gift looks, but rather, how hard the wrapper tried. The wrapping, after all, is a testament to YOU being the giver. It's not particularly crafty to go online and order someone the coolest gadget, but wrapping it yourself personalizes the very thing and makes it artful.

This blog won't aim to great heights. We will marvel at beautiful things, we will discover cheap, green ways to wrap. Overall, we will try to learn to not suck so much at wrapping. Who's with me?