Put a box over the toy before you wrap it
Stop fighting the molded plastic monstrosity — drop the whole thing in a plain box and wrap that instead.
eric has done this
The moment
It's December 23rd, 11pm. You're on the floor with a roll of paper and a toy whose packaging has seven corners, two of which are curved, and a cardboard fin sticking off the back. You've used a third of the roll and half a roll of tape and it still looks like a crumpled bag. There are eleven more of these.
What you need
- Plain cardboard boxes — Amazon boxes you've already got, or a pack of flat gift boxes. Save a few in the garage each fall and this costs nothing.
- Wrapping paper and tape.
- Optional: a little tissue or a wadded bag to stop rattling.
Do this
- As boxes come into the house in October and November, break down and stack the ones roughly toy-sized. Don't overthink the sizes.
- When wrapping, drop the toy — in its original packaging, untouched — into the nearest box that fits.
- Stuff any gap with tissue so it doesn't rattle and give the shape away.
- Tape the box shut and wrap the box. Six straight edges, four cuts, done.
- Bonus: mismatched box sizes make it impossible to guess a gift by shape, which is its own kind of fun.
What changes
Every gift under the tree is a clean rectangle, wrapping takes about a third of the time, and you use noticeably less paper. You'll know it worked when the pile looks intentional instead of like a rummage sale.
Amy Darling's, and now standard operating procedure in December.
