Wrap Story: Brown Paper Packages

This Wrap Story is part of a mini-series, documenting every present I’ve wrapped since the launch of The Gifted Blog. Click here for the whole series!

Our friends T and L are expecting! Aren't they cute? Not many of our peers have kids yet, so we were especially excited to celebrate with them at their co-ed baby shower.

Books were special-requested, so we picked up two of our favorites - Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z  by Lois Ehlert and Hippos Go Berserk by Sandra Boynton. We read to N before every naptime and bedtime, and we haven't gotten sick of these yet (that's saying a lot). These two have stood the test of time.

I got major performance anxiety while preparing to wrap these presents. I had too many gift wrapping ideas on the table - a swaddling blanket wrap! a basket from their registry! wrap it in a map! wrap it in something else, then decorate it with a map! My husband patiently listened my insecure creative freak-out. Not one of my high points as a 'gift wrapping is fun!' role model.

Though I've snubbed double-sided tape in the past, this was one occasion I would have liked to try it.

Stressed, I scrapped every aforementioned gift wrapping idea and pared it down to my favorite kraft paper wrap. I ran my fingers over  each edge to make it crisp and defined. I kept the embellishments spare and playful: a little bow tie made with twisted paper cord (sent by a reader - thanks, Jantira!) and a handmade gift tag from my gift tag stash, secured with a strand of raffia.

And in the end, it's just gift wrap! Duh. It was a healthy dose of reality to go to the shower, drop off the gift and get to the real reason we were there - to have fun and celebrate with the mom and dad-to-be. Am I the only one? Have you ever stressed out over something you normally really enjoy doing?

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