It’s December 1st! The advent calendars are out and opened and I have started my usual ‘try and wrap a few presents each day in secret’ mission. As the children get older this gets so much harder. Anyone else finding this? So many times now, I go around, do a quick check and make sure everyone is in their rooms at least, if not actually asleep, I cautiously start to wrap a few things and then BAM!!! one of them appears and I find myself grabbing whatever is closest to me to throw over the gift wrapping area I’ve begun. I love wrapping gifts, but end up doing them in a rush when I have no time to hide myself away.

This year I am loving my Christmas present tags. I love a good rustic theme with my gift wrapping. I’m loving all the brown paper wrapping with simple designs and these tags are just perfect. They come on stretchy elastic strings, which are also ideal to thread around gift bags if you are using any of those for wrapping your gifts this year. These Christmas present tags are from Aura Print, who can make you custom made tags for all your gifts. Why not take a look and see if anything catches your eye? They also do bespoke Christmas cards if you haven’t bought yours yet. I love bespoke Christmas cards, they feel so much more special.

How do you wrap?

Do you have a system when you wrap Christmas gifts? Do you do it gradually, or do you save it all until the last moment? Now my children are getting older I find it safer to wrap as I go. I used to do a lot during the last week sat with a mug of mulled wine, but that isn’t possible anymore as there is always someone around. I try to wrap as I go, as I gradually buy things, or as things I’ve ordered online arrive so they are less likely to be seen and so I don’t end up pulling an all-nighter on Christmas Eve – who needs that?

Do you have a colour scheme or just use whatever paper you have left over? I try to use up left over paper on stocking fillers and then tend to keep all the wrapping along the same theme. The past few years have mainly been red prints on brown craft paper as I just love the look and also all the paper is recycled which feels like a much better choice.

Do you opt for bows, ribbons or twine? Do you add any extras to your gifts? I love brown twine on gifts. I used to spend hours curling ribbon years ago but I’ve moved away from that in favour of a more rustic and sustainable choice.

I don’t do every gift like this, if I added twine to everything under our tree I would just annoy everyone I think – but it does make the gifts look really nice in my opinion.

To tag or not to tag

In the past, when the children were younger I have ditched the tags and just written the persons name on the paper with a sharpie. This has mainly been because small children and Christmas gift tags can be a total nightmare. In the blink of an eye the tag has disappeared and you have no idea who the gift is even for. This is when your older child then end up with the soft toy your toddler wanted and everyone gets the wrong socks! A sharpie was my way around this in the past, however as we are now beyond that stage (hopefully) I’m back to tags. They do make the gifts look so much nicer too. Aura Print have so many lovely Christmas present tags to put that finishing touch to your gifts this year, so pop over to their site and take a look.

However you wrap your gifts this year and whatever you choose to tag them with, I hope that this Christmas is wonderful for you all, and that you get to spend it with some of the people you missed over Christmas 2020. If you are someone who enjoys making things look pretty wrapping gifts can be very relaxing and so satisfying. My biggest problem is always cutting the wrapping paper in a straight line – I know, I’m a grown up! If anyone knows of any decent adult size left-handed scissors, PLEASE let me know!

This is a collaborative article.