Anyone else is wrapping hell?

[notforonesecond]

It’s a bit cheeky of me to post this really, as I have just finished.

But my god.

I made the insane decision to save all the wrapping til my first day off work. I’ve just sat down now after starting at 9.30am.

I don’t even do fancy wrapping! There’s no ribbons, no bows, but it was such a slog.

I had this bizarre idea that I’d put some Christmas music on and wrap away, all festive. Now my entire body hurts and I have a paper cut.

And the kids will think Santa’s sodding elves did it all!

Solidarity to any one still in the trenches.

I did buy a proper heavy duty tape dispenser this year though which helped immensely. I mean, it broke the minute I opened it but I cobbled it back together with some bubble wrap and I feel like I’d marry it if I could right now.

I watched Marry Me this morning whilst wrapping too.

I have finished my DDs’ presents except their stocking presents. Just DH’s and a few for other family/friends. I started yesterday at about 7pm and have spent most of today wrapping too. I shudder to think how long it will take me next year when I have 3 DC…

I've had 2 days this week where DD was at school and I was home, so I could wrap without fear of being discovered. I had mulled wine, mince pies, and zombie films on the TV. Taken the whole 2 days solid to get it all done. I find if I wrap too early I forget what I've bought and end up buying more in a panic - made that mistake the one and only time when everything was done and wrapped in October, and then I got the fear mid December...

I absolutely love wrapping, it's my favourite bit! I'd happily wrap other people's stuff for a cup of tea and some cake 😁

@londonmummy1966 You might be the cleverest human to ever exist - because of your comment I just looked on Amazon and found that you can buy reusable fabric gift bags. This is going to be my approach for every year from now on!

Nooooo!

I quite like wrapping and enjoy the bows and stuff. Even I cannot manage more than about 4 presents at a time so make sure I start as early as possible.

My aim is to have all presents bought and wrapped before 1st Dec so the month can just be about other Christmas stuff. I never quite manage it, but the effort means it's never too much.

This year I wrapped the presents as they arrived (mostly online shopping) feeling immensely smug 😂

I started at 2pm yesterday and finished at 4am.....14 hours solid wrapping. I have 4 children and so many family members and work presents... It was crazy. But I am now wrapped!

I have literally just finished and came onto Mn as a reward before more housework.

I don't have many to wrap but it is annoying. 19 under the tree and 16 divided between 2 stockings. I can't not wrap in stockings as that was my favourite bit as a kid.

Also thought that I hadn't bought much but adding it all up to 35 has made me feel better about my fed-upness!

I can't do it whilst watching TV as I just end up watching TV....

@Timeturnerplease - if you haven't yet ordered them etsy /ebay might be worth a look - often cheaper after Christmas.

Do it slightly tipsy. Also do it in stages. I wrap for the number of tags I have, then stop. Then buy some more tags. Have about 7 presents to wrap now, have been slightly tipsy throughout. Also, always buy square/rectangular presents, much easier to wrap.

We decided not to wrap this year. We have some gift bags and reusable sacks instead.

I hate wrapping presents and I am not very neat. The last couple of years I have just used gift bags. It's much easier.

Every year I end up leaving it to xmas eve… the inlaws have arrived etc and I spend the whole flipping evening alone wrapping presents, on my own! This year we agreed no stockings as the kids are older teens and I’ve literally wrapped every gift as it arrived in the post or when I got home. Just couldn’t do the whole backache and lonely on xmas eve thing again. (Hubs is great, cooks xmas day etc, so gift procurement/wrapping for entire family is my job 🤯).

The best tip I have is use the ironing board a your 'table' - you can adjust the height and Ta da no sore neck!

Lol - that’s pretty much what I did this year - wrapping whilst standing, vino within reach!

I'm going to do most of it tonight. I have one child so shouldn't be too bad although I'm not sure I remember everything I've bought. I made the mistake of doing it all on Christmas Eve last year... rookie mistake, never again.

Nothing wrapped yet here. I tend to do it over two evenings. Sit at the dining table, film on the laptop, blitz through it. Stockings stuff goes in small printed paper bags, which speeds it up

You’re so lucky! If I weren’t already married, I’d marry him for this alone 😆

I’ve wrapped for DC and only had a few for my parents left to do. Until DH decided he was too busy to wrap any of his family’s gifts and dumped it on me! Still undecided whether to do them or just tell him to get lost and let them have unwrapped gifts.

I skill swap with my adult son - he does jobs for me that my knees object to, and I wrap his presents.

The sticky labels on wrapping paper is very annoying, although I do appreciate the reduction in plastic waste.

I've been using the same satin ribbons to decorate the gifts for 8 years so far. They go straight back in the ziplock bag once everything's been unwrapped. Really nice ribbon means my plain wrapping paper still looks nice.

Wrapping takes like 30 minutes total, what takes hours to do and hurts your whole body?!

Just finished the last present this afternoon, have had a few afternoon and evening sessions of wrapping and am finally done with some wrapping paper left for next year.😆

Throw in two cats that think they need to ‘help’ and it becomes an even more painful experience. I love buying gifts. I love seeing the recipient unwrap the thoughtful things I’ve found. I HATE wrapping. There have been many years when I’ve had to do a Herculean session late Christmas Eve, now I pace myself and curse it out over many smaller sessions in the run up.

How many arms have you got?!

It took me an hour to do the first 17 gifts. I did lose some momentum after that because I have the back of a cartoon pensioner, but I had 47 to wrap. I was quite chuffed to finish without keeling over to be honest.

I don’t even have that much to wrap but this year I just did it in any spare time or evenings I had free. Putting TV/iplayer or music on helps too.

only got small tape dispenser but it helps. Why can’t they have pre cut wrapping paper in various sizes rather than on a roll?!

I did do gift bags one year and for smaller adult gifts that is what I do. But children especially if younger love to unwrap gifts. So I wrap them properly. No ribbons. Did that one year, it all goes in bin. Such a waste. To wind up certain people I occasionally add those small stars inside that you keep finding unless you hoover them up for months on end!