Christmas Present Wrapping Party

Post written by Michelle of Avery & Augustine

I thought it would be fun to turn this year’s wrapping of Christmas gifts into a Christmas present wrapping party, inspired by one I had seen in an old issue of Real Simple years ago.  These merry garlands and plush friends helped create a festive and jovial atmosphere!  I set up a simple plate of wintry snacks because I knew we would work up an appetite in the midst of all the paper and ribbon frenzy—slivers of gjetost, freeze-dried cranberries, shortbread trees, chocolate creme-filled cookies and Happy Hippos.

Every year, I try to come up with a different theme for our gift wrapping, be it a particular set of colors or patterns.  This year, we went with a color palette of reds and grays.  We used washi tape to embellish our packages, creating simple Christmas motifs and letting Avery and Nate have a go at it with their own designs.  Avery and I knit some chains to tie around a couple of the presents.  Avery wrote gift recipients’ names on card stock using these dual-tip markers and I cut out an outline of each name, creating a unique shape for each.  I liked how using the brush tip of the markers added some nice depth to the letters.  When Avery looks at all of our wrapped parcels, she’ll know that she had a part in the creative process and that her work was valued.

I love how when we look back at photos of this event, it’ll remind us of the things we did together as a family throughout 2014—Nate experimenting with washi tape and different art media, the fun Avery had starting to knit (and how proud she was when got the hang of it!) and her important milestone of learning how to write letters, words and names.  Wondering if this wrapping party will become an annual tradition!

Thanks to The Land of Nod for providing us with inspiration for our wrapping party!

You can see Michelle’s work and read about her two young children and their first forays in cooking, art and everything in between at Avery and Augustine.