12 Days of Christmas: Gift Wrapping Inspiration

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me … Ten beautifully wrapped gifts Nine Christmas songs for dancing Eight cups of hot chocolate Seven swan chocolate eclairs Six egg frittatas Five golden gifts Four colly chocolate lava cakes Three French Champagne cocktails Two sugar cookie turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tart!

For the tenth day of the "12 Days of Christmas" my true love gave to me "10 lords a leaping." Why were they leaping? Because of all those beautiful gifts!

I LOVE wrapping gifts. I've done a gift wrapping how-to on the blog before (check it out HERE) where I exclaimed that "gift bags are lazy." I still feel the same way—especially for Christmas gifts! I like to stock up on all kinds of different size boxes and then customize each gift for the recipient. Here are some of the gifts that are wrapped under our tree this year:

Craft paper is something you should always have in your craft arsenal. It's cheap, can be used for anything (crafts, wrapping), is neutral and can really be dressed up with little effort. It also comes in huge rolls which makes wrapping those really large boxes easy. I dressed these up with some candy cane wrapping paper, red ribbon and homemade tags. It's also fun to add some greenery to boxes by just sliding it under the bow. This is just a branch cut from our live Christmas tree but I also like to use fresh rosemary or holly around the holidays.

I am loving the chalk board look that is so on-trend right now and it's super easy to use for wrapping. This is just black craft paper that I bought on a roll. I used a white paint pen to draw and write on each package to make it personal. The black paper looks so beautiful with a red bow and it's even fun to add a little silver glitter if you are feeling crafty. One of my favorite things to add to Christmas packages are ornaments. The recipient with save it and put it on their tree for next year.

If you are intimidated to hand draw on your presents, no fear—you can still get the chalkboard look! I bought this wrapping paper at Target this year and I think that it gives the same kind of look without the work—no drawing skills required!

I am crazy about this wrapping paper I got at Porter Flea from Monkey Ink Design this year (grab your own HERE). It is screen printed scenes from favorite Christmas movies like A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation and Home Alone. It is so fun and such a conversation piece! How cute is this package with scenes on it from A Christmas Story? "You'll shoot your eye out!", the leg lamp, the roasted turkey, his tongue stuck to the flag pole, his puffy coat—adorable!

I really like to personalize gifts for the recipients. For the most part, you can tell whose gift is whose without ever looking at the gift tags. You don't have to always wrap in Christmas paper either. I love using maps of where the recipient is from or newspaper from the sports section for a sports fan. It's fun to think beyond the red and green wrapping to do something that will mean something to the person receiving the gift.

I am all about a themed gift and think that the wrapping should correspond. If the gift is cooking related (like this one), wrap it in paper that goes with the theme. I fell in love with this paper from Hester and Cook because it has knife outlines and measurements (almost like a blueprint). Add a red bow and a wooden spoon and the chef on your list will be thrilled.

Boy do I love sparkle and Christmas is the time to shine. I think that metallic and glitter paper around the holidays is so festive. These silver and white packages are so elegant and festive without using anything red or green. Tie a snowflake and a silver tag on the bow and you have a really beautiful gift.

Think beyond wrapping paper. I really like using fabric as gift wrap. A box wrapped in a piece of linen or burlap with a simple bow feels really special. I wrapped with gift in an antique table cloth which is a gift in itself.

I am all about the bows but sometimes it's fun to change it up a little. Washi tape that is really popular right now and is so fun to use around gifts instead of the traditional bow. I also really like double sided wrapping paper like what's used on the packages here. You get double your options and it's fun to mix the patterns by cutting out shapes and glueing them on the front of the package.

Sometimes it's best to leave off the wrapping all together! I got this adorable bee for my nephew who is not even one yet. I took it out of the box and just tied a bow on it because he is too young to open a package anyway. Plus, it looks so adorable sitting under our tree.

We've been giving bottles of wine as hostess and co-worker gifts this year. Instead of the cheap oblong paper gift bag they give you at the store, find a really pretty wine bag to give as part of the gift. These linen bottle bags are so simple but make it feel really finished and polished.