When I was little my mother used to wrap our gifts in the Sunday comics.
I think her mother wrapped them in comics and her mother’s mother wrapped them in comics and so on.
A family tradition.
It was economical and kind of random and left newsprint on your hands and it took longer to open presents because you were laughing at Garfield.
But the thing I liked most about it?
It was different.
And unique.
And a family tradition that we all rolled our eyes at and asked our mother what she was thinking and could we pause the Christmas present opening to wash the newsprint off our hands.
But it wouldn’t have been Christmas without a little Sunday comic.
So this year I wanted to start our own tradition.
I wanted to create our own wrapping paper.
It is so much easier than it looks.
I started by creating this file in PicMonkey.
If you haven’t met PicMonkey yet, go over and introduce yourself and become best friends.
There’s a whole free section and it has the best graphics and fonts and borders and arrows and picture editing tools.
I started with the reindeer on a black background and just added the words, “Merry Christmas The Woods.”
Then I took it to Office Depo and had them make it on a large scale for wrapping paper.
I just took my copy from my printer in there and handed it to the lady and explained what I was trying to do and she understood immediately and created this.
You can make it 36″ long and however wide you want it.
I even had her print it in different sizes to see which I liked better.
And it’s so affordable.
A little more expensive than regular paper (especially if you shopped the Black Friday sales) but so worth it for a unique gift wrap.
So I’m starting a new tradition this year.
Not quite as funny, but full of the same heart and joy for Christmas that my mother wraps our presents with every year.
Maybe I’ll surprise her this year with tags made from the comics.
Because after all…..
…..a little newsprint always makes Christmas better. 🙂
And now I’m so happy to be part of a fun gift wrap idea exchange that Brooklyn Limestone is putting together.
If you need some wrappingspiration you can check out all the gift wrap tutorials here.
But here are some of my favorites:
Chalk Marker Gift Wrap from Life on Virginia Street
Craft Stick Jar Topper from That’s My Letter
Glittery Silver Wrap from Migonis Home
Totally Brilliant, thanks KariAnne!
Very cool idea! Love it. :-)
Love your paper with the red pom-poms!! Merry Christmas TO The Woods!! xoxoxo
Thanks for your inspiration. As a young child my son started wrapping gifts using an assortment of products using newspaper comics to fabric. We could always count on his gifts being uniquely wrapped. As a new father, I am sure he will continue to do so with his family.
Great idea! Personalized? I really like it. Birthdays would be fun too!
What a great idea! And it looks so fabulous with the red pom pom trim. Thank you so much for sharing it. And I love how you were inspired by your own traditions. Merry Christmas!
What a great idea!
Oh I love this idea. I love a personalized present. We have several traditions in our family too! My mother-in-law and I keep exchanging the same vintage package toppers (for the past 20 years). Every time one is put back on a package we look at it fondly. My favorite is a little Santa doll that is bald. I also have my kiddos work on gift bags. I save shopping bags from throughout the year...you know...the ones you get when you buy something that have the nice ribbon handles? I buy different colors of felt and little decorations and the kids craft and glue and cut and color until they have bags decorated just by them. The grandmas just can't throw them away. :) Merry! Merry! Nancy
Love!!❤️ The design, the creativity and the inspiration!!
I love traditions and this is a great one! Thanks for the wrappinspiration! ;)
Miz karianne, what a striking and certainly unique paper idea that is! Turned out beautifully. It suddenly occurred to me that this could also become an awesome fabric design, with or without the Merry Christmas or personalization. Wouldn't that make a gorgeous pillow for the holiday season?
Your custom gift wrap is brilliant!!!
Aww! My sister always wrapped our birthday presents in the comics. Thanks for the memory! Your paper looks fabulous!
Karianne, What an awesome idea...I love it! I used to spend lots of time and effort in wrapping presents, prior to kids. Now we're post kids and I should try getting back into it again. I love the burlap with the buttons. So darn cute.
I was born and raised in Italy, when I was 20 my family and I moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Then my mom started the tradition of wrapping Christmas presents on white paper with red and green ribbons. Not only is Christmas-ty, but it represents the flag of Italy. My mother says we should not forget our roots. 21 years later I moved to the United States, but I took the tradition of my mother, with a twist, I wrap my gifts with solid white paper and light blue ribbons, representing the Argentina flag. By now, everyone knows that these gifts are coming from me. By the way, I love the idea of gifts in black and white! Merry Christmas!
Love this! Don't know that I will do it this year but I want too! Using the red, black and white theme too this year plus LOTS of plaid. So happy it is "in". With smiles, Linda
Very cool idea Ms. Thistle:) I'll have to give that a try! Thanks for sharing that!!!
Love this idea! So many great options beyond Christmas. How fun would it be to personalize wedding paper, baby shower, birthdays..endless possibilities.
GENIUS!
Love your gift wrap - especially with the red ribbon! My mother used to wrap gifts in the comics, too, and I've even been known to do it myself!! I love your idea for tags made out of the comics....I may try that! Seriously..... Have a great day, friend! Lanita
Such a fantastic idea! Pinning! Thank you for sharing with us at Brag About It! ~Laurie
I've always been a little bit on the "it has to match side". One year it will be blues and another year golds or silver. I love your black and white. Did you put a little tree in the butler's pantry?
So adorable! Best part is you don't have to ask the kids to remember to save the tag so you know who the gift is from. :) In our family the joke was that almost everything was put inside old cereal boxes and then wrapped. So when we opened the gifts the joke was always "Ah, thanks for the Cheerios Grandma!" Obviously she used them to save money, but it always make Christmas more fun.
What a beautiful tradition. I love that it's unique to you and your family. And what a genius idea to take it to Office Depot to print large scale! Definitely a trick I'll have to keep in mind. Thanks so much for sharing this on #SHINEbloghop. It's so great for you to join us this week!
Such a wonderful way to personalize a gift and I love the black and white, too...feels sooooo fresh! I had no idea you could get paper printed as wide as you wanted at an office supply store...this is just a fantastic idea all around! Anyone getting a gift wrapped in your paper is truly blessed!