Hi guys!
Christmas is in 5 days!!!! Ahhhh!
Truthfully it’s 4 days away because my family celebrates on Christmas Eve, we get to open presents at midnight! I feel extremely lucky that I get to experience 2 types of Christmases (is that a word?). In my family we get together, cook, laugh, play games, eat throughout the day and then open the presents at midnight. It might just be a Mexican thang.  Then I also get Kevin’s family’s celebration, which I think is more traditional, not sure but it’s very much like any Christmas straight out of a movie. We get a gift on Christmas Eve, it’s always pajamas! Which I love because you can never have enough. Christmas morning we go downstairs in our new pj’s and the presents are all laid out under the tree, we have a Christmas egg casserole and mimosas. Then we gather around the tree and open presents.

I can not tell you how amazing it is to have those two very different experiences. I am super lucky because a lot of people have to split their time or alternate Christmas between two families. Our kids will never have to do that and will have the enjoyment of going through Christmas the way both Kevin and I did as children.

As you can tell I am so ready! This year I decided to do something a little different, I made my own wrapping paper! Ok, by “made” I mean I bought plain kraft paper and used markers, stickers, bows, ribbon (red), and holiday greens from Trader Joe’s to decorate the paper how I pleased!

Here’s my holiday greens and other supplies.
So you just wrap the present as normal with the kraft paper.

*I’m gonna try really hard not to give away any clues as to what the gifts are.

When you have all your things wrapped up just go crazy with decorating them with your markers, stickers, ribbon and things. I tried to stick with simple designs because that’s what appeals most to me, but if you want to cover yours in bows and glitter, GO FOR IT! The beauty of getting plain kraft paper is that you can do as you please and you can personalize paper for certain people!

Here’s some of the designs I choose to do! Sometimes I would use the same design twice if I really liked it! (as long as one was going to my family and one to Kevin’s)

psst….don’t be surprised if you see your gift below, I wrote names and initials of some  😉

*Sorry for the weird color variation, 2 different cameras on 2 different days.

I even made a tiny wreath to go on a bag that I drew a door on! And yes, I know the door could have been a bit bigger.

I even got lucky and found some kraft takeout boxes at Target! I also decorated these and just love how they turned out!
Plus they will be filled with yummy homemade cookies!!!

Overall I am sooooo happy with how this whole project turned out! It doesn’t hurt that they look so nice under the tree too!

If your a last minute gift wrapper, this is a great way to add a nice personal touch to a gift. Even if you have a brown paper grocery bag and black marker around, it makes a quick wrapping paper solution. The best part is that you can decorate it for any occasion!

What do your wrapped gifts look like?

Love,
B