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 buy a lot of books as gifts because they’re easy to wrap. I avoid bottles or anything octagonal.

I finished mine yesterday. Feeling a bit sad now because I have nothing to sit up until 1am Christmas morning for, on my own with a large glass of something alcoholic.

I absolutely love wrapping, I do it in 2 8hour sessions, with special chocolates I buy especially for wrapping, I watch Christmas Shoes one day and National Lampoons Christmas Vacation the next it's my tradition and had been for the last 20years. I usually aim to get all my presents bought and wrapped by the 2nd week of December.

Santa does not wrap anything here. There is a stocking and a sack and sometimes some odd items sitting beside them. It is grand.

I did mine in a 3 solid hour stint on Sunday afternoon/evening

My back was aching by the time I finished.

I was also brewing up a nasty bug that has knocked me out all this week.

I medicated with mulled wine with brandy to get me through.

This year, I bought bags @notforonesecond .
Done quickly and easily. And i can reuse tte bags.

Yes it’s not quite as ‘pretty’ but gosh it was worth it!!

@LegoDeathTrap I completely agree.

My wrapping happens whilst getting merrily pissed!!

I did most of mine yesterday and I am so relieved because it's a job I absolutely hate.

I've only got a very small number left to wrap now because a few late deliveries (ordered at the end of November too 😠) just arrived today, but they won't take too long and at least the worst of it is done for this year.

Nothing really helps with it apart from just knuckling down to do it as far as I am concerned. I hate the job, but I also hate distraction. I just have to get to the point where it won't stop bugging me until I get it done.

I never leave it until Christmas Eve now. Did that once or twice when the DDs were young - never again. Lesson learned.

One year I spent an afternoon wrapping all the presents, while consuming a whole bottle of red wine & an entire box of After Eights (other mint chocolates are available viz BENDICKS). It was all rather festive & lovely, but that was probably due to the wine.

I bought a heavy tape dispenser after using one in the florists & realising what a gamechanger they are. Every home should have one.

3 nights in and still wayyyy too much to go =(

Biodegradable postal bags in different colours and patterns and sizes....job done!

Draw string gift bags are the answer!

Jesus. I haven’t wrapped a sausage yet and DH has just come in from work with a bottle of wine and declared he’s knackered and can we do it tomorrow. I’ve agreed but only because I have drinks tomorrow with a friend and he’s on his tod. Im feeling unprepared and we leave for my parents house on Saturday but hey! I do all my best work under pressure?! (Hoping this is the case!!)

I was complaining about this to my DH while wrapping the DC’s gifts and he thought I was exaggerating, telling me it couldn’t be that difficult. I handed him the remainder of the rolls to undo, as obviously it was just me 🙄 He was soon as frustrated as I was! The ‘easy peel’ stickers so not peel off easily, we both ended up trying to cut through them, ruining some of the paper underneath too - such a waste. How did they get through testing?

I'm out of wrapping hell now thank goodness, I finished a few days ago. For years I’d have visions of wrapping close to Christmas, listening to Christmas music. It never ended well so I wrap earlier now. I do wait until I’ve got all the DC’s gifts, to make sure they look equal when unwrapped, but then I get straight onto it! I also do rubbish wrapping with no fancy extras, and it still takes forever! I do love my heavy duty tape dispenser though, it would be worse without.

I do blue background wrapping papers for one child and red background for the other so I dont need to faff with tags and on christmas morning I can tell by sight who a present is for.

You should hire yourself out. Seriously! Some of us are useless at wrapping and hate it.

I’m really pleased with my gift bags made out of old clothes. This one is my favourite leg of some old jeans, little bit of felt and some ribbon a neighbour gave me and has been used for Christmas wrapping for some years now. Total cost about 10p for the felt and took me about half an hour to make.

I feel your pain OP bloody 3 labels on the rolls I bought got the rage trying to open it surely there must be a simpler way I know they give you extra but ffs can they not use peelable labels

My top tip.
Use an ironing board. You can adjust it to the perfect working height.

I did 4 solid hours on Tuesday when dc were at school. I stuck true crime documentaries on (very festive) while doing it. Was feeling very smug then my Mum called me last night and asked me if I could help her do hers as she struggles due to her knees. So I've spent another 3 hours today. My back is in pieces. I'm doing some last minute shopping tomorrow so I'll probably have a handful to do tomorrow night.

The poster who claims it takes 30 minutes clearly doesn't have 3 dc and a large family 🤣

Inspired by a previous thread a few years ago I now use drawstring foil gift bags for larger presents (they’re not sold as recyclable but we’re on year 3 or 4 with them now) and striped sweet bags for very small items. I still need to properly wrap a few presents but these shortcuts definitely help.

Do the people who use the bags not find it takes away from the 'excitement' of ripping the paper off? Also the ironing board trick sounds amazing but I do mine on the floor as I like the space

There was a thread on here last year about the new ‘thing’ of having those stupid stickers on wrapping rolls that make it virtually impossible to unroll without tearing the paper or driving yourself completely mad.

This year I ordered wrapping paper on Amazon and made damn sure I researched to avoid those bastardly stickers. Stocking items wrapped roughly in coloured tissue paper.

I’m going to investigate the reusable bags for next year.

I'm way too frail now to spend much time wrapping. So I asked my cleaner if she'd mind wrapping a particularly large present for me as I couldn't even pick it up. She did and disclosed she loves wrapping presents.

So ,my bedroom hadn't been vacuumed for three weeks, but all my presents are wrapped 😁 result!