There’s a great deal of joy in giving and receiving gifts at Christmastime. Of course, for many, Christmas is all about remembering the Nativity story, thinking about Jesus, and reflecting on faith. But, wonderfully tied in with the Christian message of Christmas, is spending time with loved ones. It’s a chance to show you care with a thoughtfully chosen and beautifully wrapped gift.
Anna, the founder and lead designer at And Hope Designs, has been creating beautiful Christmas cards and gift wrapping paper for 3 years.
She has lots of experience creating Christmas wrapping paper, cards, and tags, and knows exactly how they work together. With her advice your gifts will be as lovely as can be this Christmas.
Don't rush the gift-wrapping process
Often, lovingly-chosen gifts are hurriedly wrapped the night before Christmas. Gift wrapping is usually the last thing on a very long to do list. Parents find themselves hastily wrapping gifts in stolen moments when the children are asleep, or the house is quiet. When approached like this, Christmas gift wrapping is stressful.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
The trick is to leave enough time to enjoy the whole process. For you, this might mean starting to buy gifts a little earlier, or arranging childcare for an afternoon, or perhaps carving out a couple of hours each evening over a few days. Use this time to get all the Christmas gift wrapping done at once.
If you make the experience as Christmassy as possible, it’ll feel like a treat, not a chore. Light some scented Christmas candles, enjoy a hot chocolate, put on a Christmas film, or play some Christmas carols. It sounds like a wonderful Christmas activity, doesn’t it?
Unleash your crafty side and include some little touches of Christmas magic for the presents. Tuck a sprig of holly, or a fresh Christmas tree twig under your choice of ribbon. Perhaps attach a little candy cane with the gift tag as a tasty treat. You could even search your cupboards for dried orange slices or cinnamon sticks to give each gift a gorgeous Christmassy scent.
Most importantly, take your time.
Pay attention to the movement of your hands, and the slow pace you’re taking, and enjoy the whole Christmassy process of wrapping gifts with love.
Here’s a Christmas gift-wrapping secret…
Are you ready for this gift-wrapping truth- bomb?
The best way to ensure your presents are beautifully wrapped is to… use the very best paper. That’s the secret.
Are you surprised?
Some people might think that all Christmas wrapping paper is the same, so they buy average supermarket rolls of paper. In this case you may end up using lots more paper because it’s so thin. It’ll rip easily around corners, it’ll tear if you have to make lots of folds, and, sometimes it’s so thin you’ll need lots of layers to make sure it’s not see through. Worse still, the cheaper papers often have glitter or plastic coatings which make them non-recyclable.
The Christian Christmas nativity, the Christian Christmas Oranges & Peace on Earth, and the “Emmanuel” Christmas tree wrapping papers are all sustainable. They’re printed on 120gsm weight paper when gift wrapping paper is usually 30-80gsm. The higher quality means you’ll get crisp, neat folds, and, as long as eager hands don’t rip it, you’ll be able to reuse the wrapping paper.
Importantly, And Hope Designs only makes recyclable gift wrapping paper - it is uncoated so you can pop it into the recycle bin when it’s time.
There are a few more ways to make your presents more environmentally friendly. Using paper tape is a sustainable way to secure your Christmas gift wrap and avoid more plastic, as well as making your own gift bags.
As well as quality paper, a few more helpful tools can make Christmas gift wrapping easy. Using double sided tape means there’s no visible tape at all, so nothing detracts from the gorgeous Christmas wrapping paper designs. Large paper scissors will help you get the job done, and keeping a list of gifts organised with a Christmas planner (like this luxurious 5 year planner) is guaranteed to make the whole present wrapping experience fun.
Matchy matchy: coordinating Christmas wrapping paper, tags, ribbons, and cards
There really is nothing like having matching items to make you feel super organised and to have your gifts looking gorgeous. Wrapping each present in coordinating paper, with corresponding tags and cards is the perfect way to show your attention to detail.
There are a couple of ways to do this.
You could fully embrace matching with these tags, wrapping paper, and charming, modern, small complementary card options all from the Nativity Collection. Each one features adorable, illustrated images of children dressed up for a nativity play in warm colours on a neutral background. The cards have Luke 2:11 written on the back: “Today, in the town of David, a saviour has been born, He is Christ the Lord”, making them both beautiful and meaningful.
If you’d like a contemporary feel to your gifts this year, while also nodding to the sentiments of the season, this luxury wrapping paper featuring jolly oranges on a rich navy blue background could be exactly what you’re looking for. There’s matching tags, of course, and you can add a gorgeous finishing touch with some navy satin ribbon.
Alternatively, keep your gift-wrapping colour coordinated rather than exactly matching designs. The beautiful Emmanuel wrapping paper has vivid green trees on a white background. You can include choice of ribbon, sage green, fern green, or lovely contrasting wine red. Anna’s calligraphy spells out the word “Emmanuel”, matching the wording on the ‘Something you want…’ gift tags. A perfect, but subtle combination.
Make your own gift bag for tricky shaped presents
Keeping the edges of your gifts smooth and straight is the perfect way to keep your gifts looking magical under the tree, but that’s sometimes easier said than done! If you’ve chosen some unusually shaped gifts this year, you might find wrapping them a little tricky.
Luckily, there’s a fun solution. Make your own Christmas gift bags!
Not only will the bag match the rest of the gifts, but you’ll avoid all the unnecessary plastic which is found in shop- bought Christmas gift bags. Check out the video for step-by-step instructions on making your own Christmas gift bag.
So, there you go! All the tips and advice you need to wrap your Christmas gifts beautifully.
Find out more about some great Christmas gift ideas for Christian women here, or sign up to And Hope Designs’ newsletter to be the first to know about sales, tips, and generally happy things.
Wishing you a wonderful Christmas.
This SEO- friendly blog was written by Bonnie Harrington, a Bristol- based copywriter and content writer for creative, sustainable, and independent small businesses. If you’d like a blog just like this for your business, get in touch here.
