Home » Home & Style » Entertaining/Events » Gift-Wrapping Party

Gift-Wrapping Party

© Giao Duong Williams

Even though the winter holidays are a notoriously hectic time, there’s no reason to deep-six hanging out with friends until the obligatory holiday party arises. The tasks and chores that muddle our holiday to-do lists can serve as excellent opportunities for meeting up with friends and employing the proverbial divide-and-conquer --or at the very least, not suffering through it alone. Scratch off a task by throwing a gift-wrapping party.

Preparation for this little event is pretty minimal. The only real prerequisite is that you and your guests have the things you want to wrap.

A little pre-planning with your intended guests should get everyone on track with buying their gifts. Send out an invite via email or festive online greeting card asking your pals to save the date and get their shopping done. The invitation should give at least a week's notice for your friends to wrap up their shopping. Also use the invitation as a means of requesting supplies such as extra wrapping paper, tape, and ribbon and bows.

Prep your pad to be a present-wrapping workshop by clearing out a space to serve as a work surface. A kitchen table usually suffices, but if that luxury eludes your home, try clearing a stretch of floor large enough to accommodate you, your guests, gifts, and wrapping supplies. This is often achievable in the living room by moving the couches back and moving the coffee table out. Set out your share of the wrapping supplies on a footstool, small table, or inverted cardboard box to keep them from getting buried under the goods.

Set the mood with some holiday tunes. The sound of classic Christmas songs is one of the most effective and easiest ways to evoke a feeling of the holidays. Compilations are plentiful, and you can often craft your own with online technology. The holiday feeling goes one step further with the smells of Christmas. If you’ve already got your tree up, that will lend the evergreen smell often associated with Christmas. If you’re like me and have a fake tree (I am bad at watering plants), you can still infuse the air with assorted holiday scents. One extremely easy method is plugging in Plug-Ins. Scented candles are also very convincing. Finally, toss in some munchies to fuel everyone on. Choose easy finger foods like pizza and sandwiches, or make the holiday spirit a bit more visible with gingerbread cookies, Chex Mix, and cocoa with a candy cane swizzle stick.

The copyright of the article Gift-Wrapping Party in Entertaining/Events is owned by Giao Duong Williams. Permission to republish Gift-Wrapping Party in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.