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Post by ~Sherri~ on Nov 30, 2015 22:03:19 GMT
Before my Mom passed away, she would often use odd boxes to wrap gifts in. She loved seeing the looks on our faces when we unwrapped a cereal box or Kleenex box or some other odd box. It was fun trying to figure out what was in the box. One year she even wrapped up a dozen or so Kraft mac and cheese boxes (unopened) and put them in a big box and wrapped that up for my sister, who LOVES mac and cheese. It has been many years but I can still remember the laughter and fun that Christmas.
I am now collecting odd boxes to wrap my families presents in. So far I have Christmas tree light boxes, frozen Italian ice boxes, Pop-Tart boxes,etc. And I may even wrap a box of one of my SIL's favorite flavor of Pop-Tarts just for laughs. They will have fun trying to guess what could possibly be in the box. I want to leave happy memories for my children and grandchildren like my Mom did for us.
Anyone else wrap gifts in odd boxes? Or any other fun idea to create a fun and memorable Christmas?
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Post by mikklynn on Nov 30, 2015 22:12:45 GMT
I have been known to put oddball items in a package to disguise the weight or feel when shaken. For example, I put a large box of spaghetti noodles in with a sweatshirt.
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Post by 950nancy on Nov 30, 2015 22:15:51 GMT
My kids often unwrap more items from the pantry than actual presents. They are really good at looking at a box and guessing exactly what it is, so I have learned to be stealth wrapper. I also Duct tape items down to the box so they don't move .
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ModChick
Drama Llama
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Jun 26, 2014 23:57:06 GMT
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Post by ModChick on Nov 30, 2015 22:18:56 GMT
Yup! We (I ) do that too. Love that tradition. Last year my husband even though one was the actual gift (weird slipper box). He was gracious but much happier once he realized was not the gift.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Nov 30, 2015 22:19:31 GMT
My husband does the same thing. He's always wrapping my gifts at the last minute and so he scrounges around for cereal and granola bar boxes and such. He also likes random boxes because they disguise the shape of the gift so I can't guess. That is a sweet memory to have of your mom.
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eleezybeth
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Jun 28, 2014 20:42:01 GMT
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Post by eleezybeth on Nov 30, 2015 22:47:24 GMT
I do this too! The last Christmas we had with MIL I gave her her present in a frozen pizza box. After her death, FIL brought out all her angels and handed me the pizza box. He couldn't figure out why she had kept a pizza box and was venting about the angel collection and this random pizza box. Made me laugh.
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Post by papersilly on Nov 30, 2015 22:53:06 GMT
gaaahhh,I hate it when MIL does this. she thinks she is being cute but a gift card is a gift card. no need to wrap it in a box. then a tin. then a bigger box weighted with nuts and boltz. then a bigger tin. it was probably cute when her kids were 3 and loved shaking the box. well now they are all in their late 50's and the element of surprise is gone so I think we can skip over that. even the grown grandkids don't find it so amusing anymore.
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Deleted
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May 19, 2024 17:07:49 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2015 22:56:34 GMT
I do this a lot of with youngest because all he wants are video games. I put on this year in rather large box just so he won't know it's a tiny box.
One year we got a gag box at Walmart. On the outside was a coffeemaker you hang in your shower. My MIL really thought that was what she was getting and was very gracious accepting the gift. She then opened the box and there was an ipad in there. She still talks about that silly box.
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Post by scrapsotime on Nov 30, 2015 22:57:46 GMT
My dad used to do things like that. He liked to disguise what he actually bought. One year he bought my mother a ring. He put it in a slightly larger box and then put that in a bigger box and kept doing that until he had about 10 boxes wrapped. He then put a couple of bricks in the biggest box and wrapped that.
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Nov 30, 2015 23:16:17 GMT
my Mom always does this!! Even now that we don't get together at Christmas (we live too far away and it's tough to travel at Christmas due to our work schedules) she sends our small *stocking stuffer* gifts in goofy boxes... a couple I remember from years ago were: a small item for my sister that was wrapped in a battery box- my sister thought batteries was her present, and my mom had to tell her to OPEn the box!! lol!! I also remember getting something in a box from orange Jell-O one year... good times!! My BF and I have done the same thing to each other in the past, too-- one year he gave me what I thought was pillows, but my new laptop was in the middle of all of them. I gave him a huge, heavy box full of rocks and a DVD box set of his favorite television show-- stuff like that.
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Nov 30, 2015 23:19:22 GMT
...another thing we used to do in my family was with a gag gift-- my sister bought my brother a duct tape wallet at some craft show somewhere. For the next few years, the duct tape wallet was passed around from person to person, usually with a gift card or something small inside.
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Post by 950nancy on Nov 30, 2015 23:34:11 GMT
gaaahhh,I hate it when MIL does this. she thinks she is being cute but a gift card is a gift card. no need to wrap it in a box. then a tin. then a bigger box weighted with nuts and boltz. then a bigger tin. it was probably cute when her kids were 3 and loved shaking the box. well now they are all in their late 50's and the element of surprise is gone so I think we can skip over that. even the grown grandkids don't find it so amusing anymore. Kind of makes me laugh a little. Parents. On the bright side, when it is all unwrapped, you are looking at a gift you don't have to take back.
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peabrain
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,588
Jun 25, 2014 22:18:04 GMT
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Post by peabrain on Nov 30, 2015 23:33:54 GMT
Amazon has a few gag gift boxes. I found one of them too funny to pass up one year for dh's bday. I put his real gift inside but the look on his face was priceless
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Post by femalebusiness on Nov 30, 2015 23:40:16 GMT
I've been known to throw a few jingle bells or marbles into a box so that it rattles or a rock to make it heavy.
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Post by stargazer on Nov 30, 2015 23:43:45 GMT
Years ago my then bf, now dh, bought a box of my fave biscuits, took the biscuits out (& shared them with me) then hid a necklace in the box & used counters to make it to the correct weight (yes, he weighed it!), before wrapping it & giving it to me. Along the same lines, I have just wrapped all of my 17yo ds' presents up in sparkly owl paper: his 13yo sister is the owl lover in our family. I never label their gifts, just use a different paper for each of them so I thought this would be surprise them. This way I can put the presents under the tree & watch them try to work out what they've got
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Post by bostonmama on Nov 30, 2015 23:51:54 GMT
We do this as well! I love all the heart and thought that goes into making a gift an extra special memory!
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Post by M~ on Nov 30, 2015 23:53:36 GMT
I'm not a fan of gag gifts generally speaking. I'm glad that this is a good memory for a lot of people though. Me-not so much.
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Post by Fidget on Dec 1, 2015 0:07:49 GMT
I have done this, especially with gift cards. I really want my loved ones to have something to open. One year I used empty butter cartons to put gift cards in. I have also hidden money in cereal boxes.
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Post by librarylady on Dec 1, 2015 0:35:40 GMT
I'm not a fan of gag gifts generally speaking. I'm glad that this is a good memory for a lot of people though. Me-not so much. I don't see this goofy wrapping as a gag gift. It is a real gift in a gag wrapping--for me that is an entirely different thing. I do not like gag gifts. Can only think of one time when I thought it was funny. Back when music tapes were popular, my nephew asked for a particular tape. I wanted his gift to be a surprise, so I taped a marble to the outside of the tape, so that it felt like a knob on a rectangle. All that was in a box that let him feel his gift. (He was 12 years old.) He "examined" his gift several times before Christmas and was mystified with what he was getting--so he was surprised and that was my goal.
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Post by Eddie-n-Harley on Dec 1, 2015 0:37:11 GMT
I'm not a fan of gag gifts generally speaking. I'm glad that this is a good memory for a lot of people though. Me-not so much. Word. There are plenty of Christmas boxes at the dollar tree that accomplish the same purpose without looking like a box of cheerios. When I DO have to use a box of something else (usually they are smaller boxes, not big boxes), I take a big ol' sharpie and X out what the box says. Sometimes I even write "JUST A BOX" over the labels.
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Post by M~ on Dec 1, 2015 0:50:34 GMT
I'm not a fan of gag gifts generally speaking. I'm glad that this is a good memory for a lot of people though. Me-not so much. I don't see this goofy wrapping as a gag gift. It is a real gift in a gag wrapping--for me that is an entirely different thing. I do not like gag gifts. Can only think of one time when I thought it was funny. Back when music tapes were popular, my nephew asked for a particular tape. I wanted his gift to be a surprise, so I taped a marble to the outside of the tape, so that it felt like a knob on a rectangle. All that was in a box that let him feel his gift. (He was 12 years old.) He "examined" his gift several times before Christmas and was mystified with what he was getting--so he was surprised and that was my goal. I say tomato you say tomahto. Putting a tiny ring inside 10 boxes of increasing size and/or possibly weighing down an item so that the person has no clue what it is goes beyond "goofy wrapping." Yes, you ultimately get the "gift" gift, but the super bonus "gag" is requiring the recipient to open 10 boxes of varying size in order to get to the actual gift. That's what makes it a gag gift also. That part does not amuse me.
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Post by jbelle on Dec 1, 2015 1:12:46 GMT
uH OH. I really hope that box of Libby pumpkin pie mix that I got from my bil last year was exactly pumpkin pie mix. I don't eat pumpkin pie and I donated the box to our local food pantry.
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Post by peasapie on Dec 1, 2015 1:15:04 GMT
A couple years ago my husband bought a gag box to put a real gift in. The gag box was a picture of a water bottle - the kind you would use in a hamster or guinea pig cage - but for a baby. My daughter had just had her first child and when she opened it, I could tell she didn't know WHAT to say...thank you? how awful? I'll hang it on the side of his crib?
He loved the moment.
Inside was the real gift -- and I can't recall anymore what it was.
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Post by anonrefugee on Dec 1, 2015 1:24:25 GMT
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Post by jemali on Dec 1, 2015 1:49:39 GMT
We always do this with dh's gifts otherwise he always guesses what is in the box. One year we wrapped a DVD in an ice cream bucket to disguise it One time dh wrapped a wedding present in a box it didn't belong in. The gift was a lasagna pan but he put it in an air mattress box. They were pretty surprised when they had overnight guests and pulled out the "mattress" for them to sleep on...
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Dec 1, 2015 2:01:23 GMT
I like to put odd shaped toys in other boxes to make the wrapping process easier and to avoid ripping the paper due to edges sticking out, etc, I like some of the ideas here, although I wouldn't wrap something several times.
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Post by bc2ca on Dec 1, 2015 4:11:41 GMT
I use whatever boxes are available to wrap gifts, so it might be a cereal box, shoebox or crackers. Sometimes it is to hide the shape and camouflage the gift (especially for DVDs and XBox games). The first Christmas gift I gave DH (before he was DH) was hockey tickets in a toothpaste box. He really was confused about why I was buying him toothpaste .
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Post by crazy4scraps on Dec 1, 2015 4:30:16 GMT
It is SO much faster and easier to wrap a gift in a box with straight, solid sides. So many of the toys today come in these dumb blister packs or in boxes that have a corner or the front cut out with something blister packed in that corner and it drives me NUTS! If I have a bigger box to put the thing in, I'll do that and I don't care what the other box is from. I save "good" wrapping boxes all year round and they always come in handy whenever I have to wrap something. If I don't have a bigger box, I'll take a scrap piece of chipboard and try to patch over the cutout to make a solid piece to wrap over so it's not so easy to punch a hole in the paper over the cutout part.
I will also admit disguising the contents of a package because the recipient is fond of shaking and rattling to attempt to guess what it is. I have used a variety of things for that purpose including small jingle bells, a sealed envelope of dry popcorn or beans, a small dollar store puzzle in a box, etc. You do what you have to do when people are driving you crazy with their shaking and guessing!
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Post by Anne-Marie on Dec 1, 2015 18:52:23 GMT
My Grannie used to wrap gifts in cereal boxes, more for the frugalness of it than anything. But this made me think of that and smile - thank you.
We are getting each of our DDs an electronic device that they have on their Christmas list this year and I am trying to figure out how to wrap them. Due to the price that is their "big" gift and I kind of, in a fun way, want to make them "work for it". I'm thinking about wrapping a box, wrapped in a box, wrapped in a box, etc. and maybe in the each of the outer wrapped boxes have a small accessory (earbuds, a small iTunes gift card, case, etc.) that go with the device. Maybe I should use funny boxes!
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Grom Pea
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Jun 27, 2014 0:21:07 GMT
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Post by Grom Pea on Dec 1, 2015 18:59:32 GMT
Dh does this but not so much for the humor as it is for the boxes are easy to wrap factor, and recycling is better for the earth and your wallet factor. He must get this from his mom as she sends us gifts in Costco sized raisin boxes and folgers coffee cans. I admit once i started doing this it made wrapping easier but we do have to tell people to open gifts, eg one time a friend thought we gave her granola when we really gave her a piece of pottery like one she had admired in our home. She was very gracious about the granola.
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