''Fess up -- who else saves the paper and bows?!

[Dee*Jay]

I can''t even remember how this got started, but it has somehow become this "thing" with me and the HH to save and reuse bows and the salvageable wrapping paper. We go to sometimes (often!) ridiculous degrees to get the paper off of gifts in a way that renders at least some scrap of it big/good enough to be reused. Every once a while we''ll give something to someone in a future year and they exclaim, oh, we have the same paper!

Does anyone else do this? Tell me we''re not alone in this!

 

[Ellen]

Weirdo.

I don''t save paper, but I''ll save a bow or two sometimes, and gift bags if they''re not mangled.

 

[Kaleigh]

I''ll save the gift bags. My MIL is a champ at saving the paper. The bows usually get tossed though...

 

[Dee*Jay]

Oh yes--gift bags (including wine bags)! I had forgotten about those. Definitely saved!

 

[Ellen]

Date: 12/25/2007 5:05:17 PM
Author: Dee*Jay
Oh yes--gift bags (including wine bags)! I had forgotten about those. Definitely saved!

Yep, and those usually stay in really good shape.

 

[pennquaker09]

I would save bags, but not the paper. I''ve never actually thought about it.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

I do not save anything and actually try to get rid of left over stuff. Last year, I'd stick two or three bows on my kids' gifts so I'd not be stuck with extra packaging to store for the following Christmas!

 

[door knob solitaire]

My mother and I exchange a gift ever other year (respectively) with a piece of wrapping paper, a gift of mine was wrapped with when I was 4. She said I loved the image of the little girl and kittens so much I wouldn''t tear it. Started to cry when she helped me release the tape...I was so afraid it would hurt the kittens.

Silly little tyke huh?

The paper is tattered and yellowed. But the image of the holly hobby like little girl and kittens is so priceless to both of us it brings us to tears when we see it. The gifts are getting smaller as the paper is getting too delicate. But we are determined to keep the tradition up. I plan to copy it this year...and next year will present her with an ornament gift box wrapped in the image. I should laminate the original...but some how it would take away from the honor we bestow on it...plastic has no place in a treasured memory such as that.

I am tearing as I write this...awhhh....what a sappy sucker.

§

Oh...yes I save all designer ribbons and bows. You know the wired fabric ribbons and bows? Not the store multi pack ones...papers I really love I will save usable pieces.

 

[door knob solitaire]

Oh the old fashion package decorations from the 50''s and 60''s...mom has all of them. You know the delicate little pine cones on a card or a little fuzzy tree...santa faces...or reindeer details...you will recognize the package topper from years back, and always return it to see it reappear once again. And yes she has a flat box that houses pieces and strips of papers of Christmas''s past. It is a thrill to wrap at her house and utilize her stock. You can recite what gift you received when you recognize the paper. So it is really fun. Sometimes we will use a strip of old paper as a band on a new wrapped gift...just for interest and old times sake.

Yes...mother has every paper and bow...and topper...and ornament we ever made, bought or recieved. Fess up? Honey you don''t have the time to listen to all I can fess up on. She even has the Styrofoam meat trays that our hamburger was on when I was a little girl. So trust me, bows and paper are nothing to my mother!!!

 

[omieluv]

Ok, I will fess up. I save bags, "nicer" bows and tissue paper!

 

[monarch64]

Gift bags and sometimes bows we save...my mother, OTOH, saves bows like a madwoman. Every time a gift is opened, she says "save the bow, save the bow!" It''s pretty funny. My aunt is the same way, so when we all have gotten together in years past they get a laugh out of how many bows they each got back from each family to recycle!

 

[Linda W]

Yep, we save all gift bags from birthdays, Christmas, Valentines Day, Easter, you name it. HA!!!

Ellen: You crack me up.

Linda

 

[sera]

I save the bags and nice bows. So does my mom, so we end up giving the same bags back to each other. Some are just too pretty to toss and sometimes it''s the the thought of, "Dang, this bag was 4 bucks- I''m not tossing it."

 

[door knob solitaire]

Some people have passions in life, like the save the whales or sea turtles...many want to save the red crested white tailed South American wood pecker, but my SIL is a "SAVE THE BOW!!!" fanatic.

One year her 12 year old son won a radio contest and it was $50 bucks. He went to the dollar stores and got everyone gifts. Guess what he bought his mom? A basket filled of packages of bows. He wanted her to have so many bows she would never want for another!

Awwhhh, isn''t that sweet?§

 

[monarch64]

Date: 12/27/2007 1:04:12 AM
Author: door knob solitaire
Some people have passions in life, like the save the whales or sea turtles...many want to save the red crested white tailed South American wood pecker, but my SIL is a ''SAVE THE BOW!!!'' fanatic.

One year her 12 year old son won a radio contest and it was $50 bucks. He went to the dollar stores and got everyone gifts. Guess what he bought his mom? A basket filled of packages of bows. He wanted her to have so many bows she would never want for another!

Awwhhh, isn''t that sweet?§

Yup, that is one of the cutest things I''ve ever heard! I love it! I think that for all the bow-savers in our lives, we should make it a tradition to bring along a whole bag of bows to the Christmas celebrations every year...that way, they''ll never "want" for bows again. Or will that take all the fun out of the game? LOL!

 

[door knob solitaire]

Monnie,

I have this compulsive gift wrapping warped sense...they have to all match and be a certain way. I spend all summer searching for package toppers and fabric ribbon to make my bows...they do make quite an impression. One year my husband demanded that the nuttiness stop. He ordered me to by regular paper...not silver foil or embossed as I do...and sent me to buy packages of premade bows. We have the biggest fight. I mean I was ready to DIVORCE. My packages are everything.

Anyway...I came home with these lame patterned papers...cartoon characters. Nothing shiny or reflective. And 5 packages of bows per his request(...mind you I had the attorney''s number on speed dial. This was such a sacrilege.) Anyway he stacked the unbowed packages in the car and when we got to our destination, he allowed the gift recipient to choose his/ her own bow as if they were candy. He allowed larger packages to get three or more bows and the smaller ones he kept to a limit.

It actually was quite hilarious. And I didn''t appear to be miss snooty hoitey toitey with the designer packages. The family actually liked me that year. And they loved hubby!!

He continued to hand out bows as the night progressed, long after the gifts had been opened. And people loved it! §

 

[monarch64]

Date: 12/27/2007 1:22:10 AM
Author: door knob solitaire
Monnie,

I have this compulsive gift wrapping warped sense...they have to all match and be a certain way. I spend all summer searching for package toppers and fabric ribbon to make my bows...they do make quite an impression. One year my husband demanded that the nuttiness stop. He ordered me to by regular paper...not silver foil or embossed as I do...and sent me to buy packages of premade bows. We have the biggest fight. I mean I was ready to DIVORCE. My packages are everything.

Anyway...I came home with these lame patterned papers...cartoon characters. Nothing shiny or reflective. And 5 packages of bows per his request(...mind you I had the attorney''s number on speed dial. This was such a sacrilege.) Anyway he stacked the unbowed packages in the car and when we got to our destination, he allowed the gift recipient to choose his/ her own bow as if they were candy. He allowed larger packages to get three or more bows and the smaller ones he kept to a limit.

It actually was quite hilarious. And I didn''t appear to be miss snooty hoitey toitey with the designer packages. The family actually liked me that year. And they loved hubby!!

He continued to hand out bows as the night progressed, long after the gifts had been opened. And people loved it! §

Hilarious DKS!!! I would expect nothing less from you than a perfectly wrapped package, LOL!

My mother has a thing for wrapping each recipients'' gifts in the same paper pattern, with matching ribbon, and then stacking them into towers. I have a thing about wrapping gifts with no visible seams and using double stick tape and then doing the ribbon in such a way that you can''t even see the seam in the wrapping at all....it''s just a sickness, I tell you. You know what always ruins it? Dog fur. Yup...dog fur (or cat fur in my mother''s case) inevitably finds it''s way into the tape or ribbon or onto the wrapping paper and then we both have fits over it. Does anyone else notice while unwrapping their gifts? Nope. Just us. We''re the only crazy ones.

I''m glad you and your DH were able to come to such a sweet compromise. I have to ask whether it has lasted, though... has it? LOL! I bet you were just as hard at work this holiday season making sure your packages were perfect!!!!! I hear Xanax or Valium is a good cure for our disorder, or a stiff martini...hee hee.

 

[door knob solitaire]

OMG!! Yes to the hair ball thing! Arghhh. I have started over so many times! You are I are two peas! Do you fold over every edge? And do you have that that moment of sheer joy when patterns align perfectly...the stripes or the circle or what ever meets and I well...it is darn second to...Nirvana for me. Pathetic! Then I have to point it out the recipient who looks at me all glassy eyed and rips the masterpiece to shreds! (I''m not really than bad...but I would appreciate the acknowledgement when the stars all come together me and my package and my tape and well only chocolate is better) I don''t get it when people complain about having to wrap gifts...I want to say let me, let me do it!!! I''m Pathetic!!

 

[monarch64]

Yes, DKS...we are two peas.... we have this diagonally striped paper at work (in two colors, red/silver or green/silver) and it irks me to no end when someone else has been busily wrapping right beside me not heeding whether the stripes match up perfectly and THEN they have the audacity to overlap the ends without trimming perfectly or folding over before taping and slap a bow on it and present it to the customer like it is some gift of the magi. Blech. I can barely stomach it, seriously. I have to match up the stripes perfectly, then trim down the ends on both sides evenly, then tape symmetrically and then the bow has to be positioned perfectly centered...and only then can I bring it out to the customer and feel like they got their money's worth! LOL! Yes, it probably takes me 5 more seconds (I'm pretty quick), but I'd rather take a wee bit longer than produce a crappily wrapped present. Same goes at home...I just went to great lengths the other night making sure there were no flyaway doggie hairs on the dining room table before I brought out a pristine new roll of wrapping paper to lay down, THEN, I inspected each box and the tape before I even laid each down on top of said wrapping paper. Hmmmph.

But you know, I never really overexamine any gift I unwrap that is given to me....I swear!!! LOL!

ETA: and several times this season I will admit to telling a co-worker: just let me do it. Gosh, I'm terrible, they must hate me there! Good thing I make up for my anal behavior by bringing in coffee and doughnuts several times a week!

 

[chrono]

We grew up going without many things so we saved up all the bows, tissue paper, gift bags, and yes, wrapping paper too. Now that we are no longer in want, I guess the habit stuck and I''m still saving all these items for future re-use.

I guess you can call it environmental recycling. Less trash for nature.

 

[Fly Girl]

Yep. We save bows, gift bags, and nice tissue paper. We do toss the wrapping paper now that we are more affluent

, but we used to reuse that as well.

 

[Dee*Jay]

I'm glad to see the HH and I are not the only ones! I really don't kow why we do it though. It's not a $ thing, or even a deep rooted environmental thing (although the idea of all that paper waste does irk me a bit if I take the time to sit down and think about it... ). The whole thing probably started years ago with an innocent "oh, isn't that pretty paper--I think I'll save it." And now look what we've got!

 

[secondhandnews]

I don''t save the paper but I do save the bows. I use ribbon and tie my own bows so they recycle nicely. But I still buy more ribbon whenever I see pretty ribbon. However, I do get OCD when it comes to the wrapping paper. I have a thing about 2 packages wrapped in the same paper cannot be next to each other under the tree! Family members will try to move packages just to see if I notice. I do! I know, I probably need some sort of intervention program!

 

[door knob solitaire]

NO second hand...that is what makes you ~ you! Don''t you change a thing!! Your family loves it! What fun!

§

 

[Dee*Jay]

Date: 12/27/2007 12:12:28 PM
Author: secondhandnews
However, I do get OCD when it comes to the wrapping paper. I have a thing about 2 packages wrapped in the same paper cannot be next to each other under the tree!

LOL, I''m kind of like this too. Plus, I won''t wrap more than one of the HH''s gifts, or the batch of gits we give to friends and family, in the same paper. For some reason that really BUGS me! (Now you know why we have so many different kinds of paper in that giant bin in the garage. Thank god for Costco!)

 

[somethingshiny]

I save the bags, bows, ribbons and any tissue that can be salvaged. DH''s aunt is an artist and like to keep hunks of the paper for ideas.

But, Santa brings everything wrapped in the same paper. So, the little guy knows if it''s wrapped in Rudolph, it''s from Santa.

DH and his parents tease me so much for keeping all of it. But, one statistic I read said if everyone reused just 2 feet of ribbon, we would save enough ribbon to encircle the world twice. So, it''s just my little part of saving the environment, ya know, since we don''t have public transportation in these parts.

 

[Ellen]

Date: 12/27/2007 12:12:28 PM
Author: secondhandnews
I don''t save the paper but I do save the bows. I use ribbon and tie my own bows so they recycle nicely. But I still buy more ribbon whenever I see pretty ribbon. However, I do get OCD when it comes to the wrapping paper. I have a thing about 2 packages wrapped in the same paper cannot be next to each other under the tree! Family members will try to move packages just to see if I notice. I do! I know, I probably need some sort of intervention program!

Ah, I''m not alone.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Date: 12/27/2007 4:15:36 PM
Author: somethingshiny

But, one statistic I read said if everyone reused just 2 feet of ribbon, we would save enough ribbon to encircle the world twice. So, it''s just my little part of saving the environment, ya know, since we don''t have public transportation in these parts.

See--now I feel better! Imagine all the trees I''ve saved over the years too, LOL!