How to Wrap Gifts Quickly & Cheaply!

With six children, a large extended family, and many friends (not to mention gifts for teachers!) I was spending hours bent over giftwrap, tape and scissors, trying to wrap presents in a festive manner. What seemed to take the most time, and presented the most frustration, was wrapping the small gifts which were often simply stuffed into the children's Christmas stockings. One day several years ago, the proverbial light bulb lit up in my head. I dashed to my pantry and retrieved my large roll of heavy-duty aluminum foil. And I've been wrapping gifts in "silver" ever since!

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• aluminum foil

1. Pull out a piece of aluminum foil large enough to completely cover your small gift. Use the built-in serrated edge to separate your piece from the rest of the roll.

2. Place gift in center of sheet of foil, with the shiny side down.

3. Long method: Wrap in a conventional way, but no tape is required to maintain folds. Takes 1-2 minutes of time.

4. Short method (the one I use, prefer and recommend!): "Scrunch" aluminum foil around the gift, creating "highly decorative" folds and wrinkles. Again, no tape is required. Takes 10-15 seconds of your valuable time!

Tips & Warnings

• If you are an over-achiever, with a Type A personality, you may desire to add curling ribbon or a bow to your shiny, silver gift.
• More fun can be had by all when gifts which are wrapped in aluminum foil are unwrapped. This is because the friends and family who gather 'round may take the discarded pieces of aluminum foil, crush them into balls, and throw them at one another...snowball-fight-style!
• Are you environmentally conscious? Aluminum foil can be tossed into your recycling bin to be recycled in most communities!
• Be careful to not slice your finger on the serrated edge of the aluminum foil box. That really hurts!