Christmas wrapping and b****y selotape!!!

I sympathise. I have been using a freebie pen which is completely smooth all over shaped like a rolling pin and, yes, it has rolled off my table eight times today. Thank goodness my wife and I have pickers but I will stick to ridged biros that sensibly are designed not to roll away.

Or a paperclip works OK.

Thank you granny 23 for your pillowcase suggestion. A box of k*nex, books, board game and pyjamas for Dgs and corresponding gifts for Dgd all tucked into Santa sacks.

Those gift wrap fixers look brilliant, and so professional! Must try them next year! I do as many have suggested and cut off small lengths of sticky tape before I start and stick the ends to the lampshade over the table, so they dangle down and can be grabbed easily.

We don't have Sellotape in Germany (my Dad used to call it Seal - o - Tape, but I think the word comes from cellophane) but the favourite and most common type here has also become thinner and splits lengthwise. So it's a "global phenomenon".

As for presenting flowers in Germany, I learnt from a fun quiz programme on etiquette in different countries, which was on TV here about 25 years ago, that in Germany you give someone flowers without the wrapping on, whereas in Britain it is the done thing to present them with the wrapping still intact.

Before I knew that, I once annoyed a German florist very much by asking her to add a bow, just as she was finishing wrapping the flowers. I expected her to tie a bow round the bottom, where you hold it. But she huffed and puffed and took the paper off, twiddled a bow and put it on a long length of wire, which she poked into the bouquet so it looked like an extra flower and then put the paper back on. How was I to know that the paper wasn't part of the package?

However, with the advent of transparent wrapping foil, it is now acceptable to present them with that on in Germany, and it probably solves the problem of whether or not to leave it on in any country. You will, however, be asked if you want them with foil or paper (foil will cost you an extra 50c) and the paper will be wrapped loosely round to protect the flowers, so you take it off before handing them over. Also gypsophelia and extra greenery will cost you extra.

Scotch "Magic tape" on a dispenser is clear and easy to tear. Don't buy cheap sticky tape for presents and always use a dispenser.

I am not normally a brand fan but sometimes quality shows and you win out by not getting too frustrated. Don't buy too much at a time as the glue on the horrible thick cheap rolls deteriorates over time.

I don't think I could cope without the pop-up dispenser that fits on your hand. No losing the end, no scissors, always 'to hand' as it were - I think they are brilliant.

I buy from that famous * shop 5 rolls. brilliant, trick is worm it up
first, then it won't split.
I post a few things from time to time, and their packages are amazing
Brown paper whole ten mitres of it, not all that strong but it does the job.

I LOVE wrapping Christmas presents! And that's all I've got to say! Merry Christmas everyone!

Bah humbug

I put stamps on my cards, sent Mr H off to the postbox, and then realised there were at least half a dozen not addressed yet. Now I can't remember which ones I need to do again. #scrambledChristmasbrain!!!

In 2005 I worked as a Holiday rep in Lapland, after a journey that took best part of 24 hours (plane, trains and coaches) we arrived to find that our first job for the 15 of us who arrived together was to wrap presents. All 5000 of them! Needless to say it's no longer on the top of my list of favourite things to do at Christmas! And yes I know I was maybe somewhat older than the average rep but I started at the age of 51 and had 13 years of the best times of my life.

PS. And I also have a photo I took of the 'real' Father Christmas on my phone.

I also cut off strips and put them on the back of a chair, sometimes the whole strip sticks down and is difficult to get off so frustration kicks in.
I tried to be clever and left the roll of tape stuck to the chair, couldn't find it the next day, got a new one out. It had unravelled all the way to the floor.
What the heck!!! Life's too short, same with scissors, put them down they disappear.

My biggest problem was not the tape but the paper splitting, especially on corners.I found the ideal solution in my local pound shop.
Plastic tablecloths are much stronger than paper and withstand a lot of being knocked about.
Fit to all the sharp edges (sellotape) then wrap normally.
Works a treat.

when you are wrapping put the roll of sellotape in a Xmas pudding sized bowl and stick the end to the edge of the bowl. Easy then to find and cut to length. When finished just fold a bit back on itself.

Over the (many!) years of present wrapping I've spent hours a night making beautifully presented presents and sticking strips of tape all over chair backs, table edges, backs of hands, I've also used my works tape dispenser and then those wrist gadgets which hold the strips which never seem to work for me. I've done them on the dining table, the floor, my dressing table and even a pasting trestle set up in the bedroom specifically for the job one year. I still hate it and when I also saw those bags on QVC mentioned earlier I ordered them straight away. This is the first year I've had them 'wrapped' and waiting to be despatched well in advance. They look nice and as has also been pointed out are reusable so I'm expecting the see them returned to me in years to come :-) I have to wrap parcels and boxes up for work sometimes and the brown packing tape drives me nuts when the end gets lost. I've resorted to now turning it under when I've done to make it easier. One day I might invest in a proper packing tape dispenser too then there will be no stopping me - have gun will wrap

Bags are the way to go

Going to try SusieM's bowl idea, thanks.

Have enjoyed reading this thread! I started using the wrist dispensers a few years back and they are good but not cheap. Last year I bought a pack of 6 smallish rolls of "easy tear" tape from eBay. Brilliant, no scissors to keep losing, can tear off any size pieces etc. These have seen me through a year's gift wrapping and many book sales on eBay.
Those QVC bags sound good, must investigate.
My other wrapping tip, is to store any packaging boxes you receive and put every gift into a suitably sized box before wrapping. It's so much easier to wrap a box.
Merry Christmas everyone.

I repeat my advice about using double sided Selotape. It doesn't show and you can stick gift cards, bows etc using it. I have now found it healer than Staples in Tesco, think it was £2.50 I must have wrapped at least 50 parcels and have only used just over one and a half rolls. It is on a dispenser so you only need take off what you want and put it straight on! "Simples" - as the meerkats say!It is worth a try folks!

I wouldn't be without my little plastic dispenser, Sellotape I think, which you strap to your wrist, leaving both hands free. It gives out short pieces of tape and makes wrapping easy. I don't wrap many presents as where I live they ask if it is a present and wrap it for you for no extra charge. At this time of year I daily give thanks for this!

Well I'm glad there's a couple of others who enjoy wrapping presents! Thought I was on my own. I really enjoy sitting at a large table with lots of shiny wrapping paper and a very trusty heavyweight dispenser. All presents get prewrapped in fancy tissue paper, [bought bit by bit over the year] then wrapped up with lots of bows and ribbons. We don't go over the top with expensive presents and the wrapping paper etc isn't costly, especially if you look around some of the discount stores. Put something on the radio or iplayer and I'm a happy bunny.

Ana, where do I get Magic tape?

Most newsagents and stationery outlets sell it, witchygran, it's not hard to get hold of. The packaging has a distinctive green and black checked pattern!

I used to love visiting my own Nanna until just before Christmas when she would announce with glee that we could go for the day and help her wrap presents and write cards. It was tedious and boring and we appeared ungrateful for this grown-up 'treat' if we refused. All these years later it has left me with a sense of dread when wrappping time comes around. I try to wrap a few at a time whilst my patience lasts and get it over with as fast as possible!! And I never ever force my grandchildren who actually love 'helping'. It also made me aware just how things we experience can have a long lasting negative effect, even when we think we are giving them a 'treat'!!

Glad it isn't just me!!! I can't even wrap simple things like books neatly. I get the paper round the gift, fold in one end and rest the scissors to weigh it down while I take the end of the "Sellotape" from the coffee table I've stuck it to. Then I take the scissors and the package end promptly comes unfolded while I cut the sticky tape, which promptly swings round attaching itself to itself, my fingers and anything else. Cut another piece and fasten it to the gift. Then fold the other end, only to find that the sellotape has fallen on the floor and the end's nowhere to be found; by the time I've found it, the scissors have fallen on the floor . . . it's a wonder anyone ever gets presents from me. But why is Sellotape (and here I'm not talking about the generic cheap imitations but the real thing!), even if you can find the original, so poor these days? Or is it just that we're still living in days of yore when quality was much better?