Wrapping presents ...

Luckygirl13

No to sellotape, which after all is plastic . I use pritt-stick other makes are available . The benefits you have no ‘end to loose’
It lasts for ages & ages …..
I use it on all my gifts , as well as always reusing paper & bags ,which I’ve done for many years. .

I love buying and giving presents. I hate wrapping them, with a passion! I’m not good at it, and am always disappointed that no matter how hard I try they never look neat and pretty.

A tip I was given to find the end of a roll of tape, instead of using fingers to feel for it, use the tip of your tongue, much more sensitive to the edge of the tape, really works!

I save Christmas wrapping paper and use again the following year. I use a tape dispenser and try to use the Matt tape as it peels off nicely without tearing the paper. Needs a serrated edge on the dispenser, used to spend hours trying to find the end of a roll of tape, very frustrating. Life’s too short.

I am useless at wrapping presents. I use the chip shop method and use 1 piece of sellotape. I buy pretty coloured tissue paper and put into Christmas bags. I don't write a name on the label so that they can be recycled.
There has been a special offer in WH Smith for a tape dispenser with tape and a refill for £1.25, which is half price.
I used to enjoy packing presents but now find it to be another chore to be completed before Christmas.

For the GC I have large Christmas bags which I reuse every year. Only wrap single items and my dispenser seems to save any sticky tape problems thus far.

Luckygirl3

What gift tape do you mean?

I think the tape is made for W. H. Smith. I buy it in Smith's. The tape is a cloudy type of sellotape. Once on the gift wrapping paper it's almost invisible. Much easier to handle than Sellotape too.

I used to love the whole wrapping ritual and thinking of inventive ways to be original. There was the year I wrapped everything in brown paper and tied tartan ribbon round the gifts, or my Jo Malone year when I cut up thick cream paper tablecloth and tied everything up with black satin ribbon.
DD has done gifts in newspaper tied with raffia too but this year I have used bags from the long river company.
1) Put in bag,
2) pull both sides of ribbon,
3) tie in bow. Sorted!

I keep losing the end, so constantly scrapping round the roll to try and find it. Very frustrating. Takes twice as long. Maybe a dispenser might help but I have the very large rolls.

To the despair of my grandmother (whose present wrapping was a work of art with incredible ribbons) my mother also favoured the chip-shop and single strip of sellotape method! She attempted a dash of style by topping with shop bought rosettes. A shame really because she gave Christmas a great deal of thought, buying individually chosen Christmas cards and gave beautiful presents (Despite the wrapping), I think she played to her strengths and recognised her weaknesses .

There is a standing joke in our family that I save boxes of all shapes and sizes, finding them much easier to wrap and prettify, but I admit that I actually enjoy enjoy wrapping presents, though arthritic fingers have made this more challenging as the years pass.

Lovetopaint037

So got a lot of pre-used but pretty bags to use but the labels are now gone. So have the job of doing something about it. I’m no good at wrapping. My normal ability to handle things disappears and my hands no longer correlate with my brain.

We always re-use bags and I just tie new gift labels on them.

What gift tape do you mean?

Gift tape doesn't split and it is barely visible on the wrapped gift. Very easy to use I never use ordinary sellotape for gifts.

So got a lot of pre-used but pretty bags to use but the labels are now gone. So have the job of doing something about it. I’m no good at wrapping. My normal ability to handle things disappears and my hands no longer correlate with my brain.

Spent yesterday wrapping some unusually shaped presents .
It's official : I hate wrapping presents !
It's why if sending some I love Amazon !

I'm exhausted.

A day wrapping presents, now Strictly and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc!!

The Sellotape seems to be getting sticker, Luckygirl

DH wraps all our presents. He said once that I am too messy, so I have left him to it. Mind you his packing, even of difficult shaped things, is spectacular. He might take ages; it a bit like origami, but the result is well worth it. Double bows and all 😃

We have a heavy, old dispenser , inherited from my parents. It's worth it's weight in gold mind you, the 'teeth' do get a build up of sticky stuff.

A local shop has three rolls of sticky tape for 99p

I just refilled our dispenser with Sellotape, bought a while ago and the price label said £2.69 - for one roll!

The sharp part of the dispenser tends to get clogged up and sticky.

I have a tape dispenser but the tape still splits - I am wondering if I have an inferior make of tape!

I love every one of them but there are so many now - twenty something. This year we are only doing tokens for our adult children but we still get things for all the grandchildren, their partners and the 5 greats. Sometimes I think we’re nuts, my grandparents never did that. It’s good to see them though and catch up with what is happening in their lives.

A sellotape dispenser is a wonderful thing. I accidentally left mine out in the rain all night recently. The tape's ruined.

Callistemon21

Watched Paddington 1 last night and Paddington Bear got himself into rather a mess with the sellotape 😂😂😂

I love Paddington Bear.

I don’t love wrapping presents though, especially as my hand is so painful at the moment.

I love wrapping presents.
If you do it the Japanese way, you only need one piece of tape!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3HIfNFk9kk

I love wrapping presents of any kind, in fact my fantasy job would be doing the Christmas gift wrapping in a high end store. My best friend is my large and heavy sellotape dispenser bought for 50p from a car boot sale