Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 15, 1995 TAG: 9511150082
SECTION: HOLIDAY GIFTS PAGE: HG47 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: JOANNE ANDERSON
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Christmas wrapping paper can't be beat for holiday colors and themes. Matching ribbon is easy to find, and mounds of curled ribbons in different colors or fancy satin ribbon bows look festive on any holiday gift.
Tissue paper comes in many colors and prints, and colored cellophane is particularly well-suited to wrapping food gifts.
But other wrapping options offer creative alternatives. Plain brown or white paper can be purchased in rolls and decorated with stickers, markers, crayons, pasted pictures, drawings, rubber stamps and messages. Large envelopes, newspaper and paper bags likewise can be decorated.
Wallpaper makes a colorful wrap for a whole package, or you can just use a border for contrast on plain paper. Discontinued wallpaper rolls can be found in decorating
departments and stores such as Sherwin-Williams in Christiansburg and America's Carpet Gallery in the Gables Shopping Center in Blacksburg. This is a thicker paper and requires a little extra care and tape to hold well.
Many gifts can be wrapped in fabric. Material chosen for the present can be cut to the proper size or the fabric can be another gift. For example, a kitchen gift may be wrapped in a nice dish towel or a bedroom gift might be slipped into a pillowcase. A bathroom present can be rolled in a fluffy towel, and a compact disc or cassette tape can be wrapped in a bandanna or tee shirt.
A workman's apron serves well as wrapping for a hand tool, and a piece of felt can be used to wrap a gun-cleaning kit. Felt is used to clean the inside of a barrel.
Golf balls can be wrapped inside a cap, and a first aid kit can be covered with a cravat which doubles as a sling.
Ribbons work well to hold wrappings in place and decorate gifts, but other things serve the same purpose. Yarn, shoe or boot laces, a soft measuring tape, row
of lace, bunge cords, computer cable, wire, even a tow rope can be tied around a present.
Small items tucked into the ribbon or ribbon-substitute complete the gift presentation. A wooden spoon, dried flowers, small tool, pen or pencil, pine cones, miniature furniture and candy canes all enhance gift appearance.
And for those who just cannot face the wrapping exercise, there's always the in-store gift wrap services. For a small fee, your present is boxed and wrapped almost perfectly in festive foil or holiday paper and ribbon. A more creative approach is used at some of the specialty shops such as Mainstreet Bazaar in Blacksburg.
Wrapping it all up can be as simple or as creative as you choose.
by CNB