How Do I Wrap a Present With a Gift Bag?
Gift bags are quickly becoming the number one means of wrapping gifts. An article in the Washington Post newspaper suggests the reason for this is the quick-wrapping solution they offer to the busy gift-giver. Buy a present, buy a bag, buy some tissue paper and the gift can be wrapped on the drive from the mall to the party. Environmentalists generally endorse the bag as well. This is because gift bags commonly see more than one gift-giving event in their usable lifetime and then can be turned to other uses, such as the creation of collages or posters.
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Instructions
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Select a gift bag and coordinating tissue paper in keeping with the theme of the gift-giving event and the gift you are giving. You also need to be sure the bag is large enough to contain the gift with a margin of at least 1 inch around the base and the height plus half the depth of the gift on top. In other words, if the gift is 6 inches square by 4 inches deep, you need a bag that is at least 7 inches wide by 5 inches deep by at least 9 inches high (6 inches height of the gift plus 1 inch margin plus 2 inches--half the 4 inch depth).
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Prepare your present to be placed in the bag by first ensuring that no price tags or stickers are attached. One of the first rules of thumb for gift-giving is that you aren't supposed to let the receiver of the gift know how much was spent. Etiquette guides such as Emily Post suggest that price should be one of the last things on your mind when considering gifts to give and should only ever be revealed to the recipient when you are giving her a gift card for her favorite store.
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The easiest thing about wrapping a gift this way is that it doesn't matter how neat and even your creases are. Using at least two pieces of tissue paper, wrap your gift in whatever way seems to work best for the size and shape. You may need to use tape to hold sections of the tissue paper in place in order to get the whole thing covered. You can also opt to leave the bottom portion of the gift exposed as this will be hidden inside the bag. Use double layers of tissue paper until identifying features of the gift are obscured. Save some pieces to decorate the top opening of the bag.
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Decorate the opening of the bag with folded or crumpled pieces of tissue paper that poke out of the top of the gift bag. One way to do this is to gently push the center of a single piece of tissue paper through the hole formed by touching the tip of your index finger to the tip of your thumb (be careful not to break through). Grab the paper from underneath and gently pull the rest of the paper through, allowing the edges of the paper to flare out. Tuck this "paper horn" into your bag with the center core at the bottom and the edges at the top. Depending on the size of the bag, it will take several pieces of tissue paper to fill the open space.
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Tips & Warnings
Add confetti, glitter, small toys or other lightweight objects in the folds of your tissue paper for an enhanced "opening" experience.
Gift bags don't offer quite the same level of secrecy as a fully wrapped package. They also don't always stack as well under a tree. Keep this in mind when determining your wrapping selection.
References
- Photo Credit a gift bag image by Pix by Marti from Fotolia.com
