Wrapping party dates 2021

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sweetpumkinpye

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I hope that you all enjoying Christmas in July.
Time to look forward to our time of the year and start some prep and planning so please find below the Wrapping party dates for 2021.
The idea is to have most things wrapped before Christmas week so that you can concentrate on other things or just sit and relax knowing that the hard work is done.

Saturday September 25th.......3 months to go. If you don't have anything to wrap, make a list, set up a wrapping tote, make a freezer meal.

Wednesday October 14th. If the kids are at school and your spouse it at work take the time to wrap so gifts or stocking stuffers.

Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th of November. A double header. Maybe a chance to make some headway and get a lot done.

Thursday December 2nd. We have still time left, a gentle sort of panic!

Wednesday December 15th. 10 days to go, we are nearly there.

Saturday December 18th. One week to go, the end is in sight. Well done, you made it. Now sit and enjoy.

I have tried to find a combination of week days and weekends. Remember these dates are just a guide. Do what works for you.


1625912749712.jpeg
 

Holiday_Mom

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Thank you, Katrina! I enjoy these days. It's a nice little nudge to get gifts wrapped and it is fun to see people checking in as the gifts are wrapped.
 
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sweetpumkinpye

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I need to print out my 'Ber' month calendar and then add these on it
I have the 'Ber months flagged in my planner. It is a time when I need to focus to get things done, a busy time indeed.
 

sweetpumkinpye

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Now that CIJ is over time to start concentrating on Christmas planning.
 

HouseElf

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Will need to add these dates! My new day planner arrived (September start date) and excited to fill it in :)
 
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Myron's Mom

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Taking stock of my gift closet the last 2 days. Started putting things in boxes so they are ready to wrap. Can’t wait!
 
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missjane

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Added these dates to my planner today. I have plenty of supplies...just need some gifts! :p:eek:
 
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sweetpumkinpye

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Added these dates to my planner today. I have plenty of supplies...just need some gifts! :p:eek:
Once again the gifts will need to have a lot of thought given to them. I am wanting to get most of mine done by the end of September due to shortages and delays in posting.
 
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Holiday_Mom

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Has anyone used Dollar Tree wrapping paper? I have a bridal shower gift to wrap. I'm having a hard time finding a solid color wrapping paper in light pink at Target. I've seen some at Dollar Tree but I'm concerned it would be too thin. I want to be able to wrap a gift so you can't see the item through the wrapping paper.

I still need to check out Walmart to see if they carry it. Any other places that I should look at? I'm drawing a blank right now.
 
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missjane

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Mary,

I've used the DT wrapping paper and it seemed okay to me. It doesn't cut smoothly if you try to just slide the scissors. I think it's made from recycled materials...I find they often don't let the scissors slide through. Have you tried Dollar General or the grocery store?
Has anyone used Dollar Tree wrapping paper? I have a bridal shower gift to wrap. I'm having a hard time finding a solid color wrapping paper in light pink at Target. I've seen some at Dollar Tree but I'm concerned it would be too thin. I want to be able to wrap a gift so you can't see the item through the wrapping paper.

I still need to check out Walmart to see if they carry it. Any other places that I should look at? I'm drawing a blank right now.
 
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GeeWibble

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Have any of you done a Christmas wrapping party at your church for the community. I'm thinking of doing maybe for teachers or nurses, since they are so busy at that time of year doing for others. If any of you have tips on how it worked good or bad, how to be organized, for example in keeping presents labeled, any ideas will be great. Thanks
 

Holiday_Mom

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Mary,

I've used the DT wrapping paper and it seemed okay to me. It doesn't cut smoothly if you try to just slide the scissors. I think it's made from recycled materials...I find they often don't let the scissors slide through. Have you tried Dollar General or the grocery store?
Thank you! There are no Dollar Generals near me and our grocery store doesn't carry wrapping paper. :confused: Oh, I just had a thought... Michael's Craft store may have something. I have a gift bag that has white, pink and gold. I think I'll expand my options to include white as well as gold. I'll see what Walmart has then make a trip to Michael's as my back up. Thanks again! I hadn't thought of those places for wrapping!
 
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sweetpumkinpye

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Have any of you done a Christmas wrapping party at your church for the community. I'm thinking of doing maybe for teachers or nurses, since they are so busy at that time of year doing for others. If any of you have tips on how it worked good or bad, how to be organized, for example in keeping presents labeled, any ideas will be great. Thanks
What a lovely idea. I personally have not hosted a gift wrapping party but it sounds like fun. Let us know what you decide.
 

Holiday_Mom

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Have any of you done a Christmas wrapping party at your church for the community. I'm thinking of doing maybe for teachers or nurses, since they are so busy at that time of year doing for others. If any of you have tips on how it worked good or bad, how to be organized, for example in keeping presents labeled, any ideas will be great. Thanks
That sounds like a great idea! I have not done that before. Maybe have a sign up sheet so you know how many people to expect and what time. Maybe even have the number of packages they would want wrapped. It would seem to help with supplies and getting volunteers.

My friend's daughter works at a store that will wrap gifts from other stores. Last Christmas, a dad of 4 whose wife was in the hospital had all the gifts to wrap and was overwhelmed. He took every gift that was bought to the store an hour before it closed. There was no way she could get it all done in an hour so he left the gifts there and picked them up wrapped the next day.
 

Myron's Mom

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Has anyone used Dollar Tree wrapping paper? I have a bridal shower gift to wrap. I'm having a hard time finding a solid color wrapping paper in light pink at Target. I've seen some at Dollar Tree but I'm concerned it would be too thin. I want to be able to wrap a gift so you can't see the item through the wrapping paper.

I still need to check out Walmart to see if they carry it. Any other places that I should look at? I'm drawing a blank right now.
I like dollar tree for wrapping paper. As Jane says it doesn’t cut smoothly. Do you have a Home Goods store close by? I’ve bought paper from there and have been very happy with it. Tuesday morning usually has some too. They are hit and miss with their selections.
I’ve not had any experience with a community wrapping party. Sounds like a good idea though.
 
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AuntJamelle

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Have any of you done a Christmas wrapping party at your church for the community. I'm thinking of doing maybe for teachers or nurses, since they are so busy at that time of year doing for others. If any of you have tips on how it worked good or bad, how to be organized, for example in keeping presents labeled, any ideas will be great. Thanks
I have hosted several wrapping parties but they were for a group of friends. They brought their gifts and wrapped them. We just kind of pooled our supplies :)

BUT that being said - here are some thoughts in addition to what has already been shared:

- On your sign up form, have a place where parents can indicate if they want their children's gifts to be labeled as coming from Santa

- Will you offer a special Santa paper? Plain red? Other?

- Will you give people the option of bringing in wrapping paper with the gifts? Could offset your supply costs but you'd then have to keep track of whose paper is whose. OR maybe on the form that you'll do your best but they may get some things with different papers?

- Also a place on the form to indicate how they want all the gift tags filled out (the non from Santa ones) - they may want to write in their own names as the giver or maybe not - but it would be good to know what they want ahead of time! The Smith Family? Bob and Bev? You don't want to be guessing that at the last minute!

- Another sign up form idea is to have the person list who is authorized to pick up their gifts - and set an expectation for the timeliness of people doing so and what happens if they don't show up

- You might also want a disclaimer at the bottom of the form - this is a free service in the spirit of the holidays. Blah, blah, blah not responsible for missing items. JUST in case someone tries to pull a fast one (I would HOPE not! Do they want COAL for Christmas???) and in case of actual mix-ups that could just happen! You could try to make it funny and Christmassy but still get the point across.

- Perhaps request that gifts arrive separated into groups by recipient - in trash bags or baskets or large paper shopping bags? So this bag is for Billy and this bag is for Sue - and individual gifts (i.e. there is only one gift for this person) all have the recipient's name written on something taped securely to the gift?

- Will you be wrapping stocking stuffers too? That is more of a planning thought - if you don't want to be faced with wrapping a bunch of small things it would be good to set that expectation up front - once again on the sign up form.

- I found that almost everyone at my parties forgot to bring their own scissors - some remembered tape - so plan to have a good supply on hand for all volunteers

- Will you accept items that have to be arranged in a gift basket? If so, will you be providing those supplies? (Baskets, filler, cellophane wrap, etc.)

- In the middle of a wrapping session - if needed- you could use sticky notes to temporarily keep track of what gift is for whom - this could even allow you to setup an assembly line

- On that note, doing a large effort like this would probably lend itself really well to an assembly line approach!

One station to greet/accept and sort (keeping groups of items together) and get them to the next station as a spot opens up.

Stations for the actual wrapping - with a side area for anything that needs to be put in a box with tissue paper like clothing.

Station(s) for bows, ribbon or other embellishments. Hot glue guns at this station would be fun - to glue on extra doo dads and embellishments as desired. If using wired ribbon to make bows have staplers on hand.

Station(s) for adding labels and grouping items together again for transport/pickup. Any gift without a label on it yet could be required to have a sticky note on it/with it at all times?

You'd probably also want to have someone (or a couple of someone's) who keep a running list of groups of gifts that are finished - with a place to check off when they are picked up (and make sure the person is authorized to pick them up) Maybe this person(s) has the original forms people filled out - or copies of them?

I'm just brainstorming here! :) Lots to think about!

- Finally it would be a great touch to have drinks (coffee, cocoa, tea, etc.) and low maintenance food items on hand to keep the volunteers going - in addition to playing Christmas music of course! If there is a TV around play classic Christmas movies with the volume turned down - just for the ambiance!!! lol

This is a wonderful idea! Let us know how your plans are coming and if there are more details it would help to discuss!!! I'm happy to chat with you directly too - I'm a party planner from WAY back so I am very comfortable with creating planning documents, spreadsheets, etc. to capture every element of an event!
 

Holiday_Mom

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Sep 12, 2009
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I have hosted several wrapping parties but they were for a group of friends. They brought their gifts and wrapped them. We just kind of pooled our supplies :)

BUT that being said - here are some thoughts in addition to what has already been shared:

- On your sign up form, have a place where parents can indicate if they want their children's gifts to be labeled as coming from Santa

- Will you offer a special Santa paper? Plain red? Other?

- Will you give people the option of bringing in wrapping paper with the gifts? Could offset your supply costs but you'd then have to keep track of whose paper is whose. OR maybe on the form that you'll do your best but they may get some things with different papers?

- Also a place on the form to indicate how they want all the gift tags filled out (the non from Santa ones) - they may want to write in their own names as the giver or maybe not - but it would be good to know what they want ahead of time! The Smith Family? Bob and Bev? You don't want to be guessing that at the last minute!

- Another sign up form idea is to have the person list who is authorized to pick up their gifts - and set an expectation for the timeliness of people doing so and what happens if they don't show up

- You might also want a disclaimer at the bottom of the form - this is a free service in the spirit of the holidays. Blah, blah, blah not responsible for missing items. JUST in case someone tries to pull a fast one (I would HOPE not! Do they want COAL for Christmas???) and in case of actual mix-ups that could just happen! You could try to make it funny and Christmassy but still get the point across.

- Perhaps request that gifts arrive separated into groups by recipient - in trash bags or baskets or large paper shopping bags? So this bag is for Billy and this bag is for Sue - and individual gifts (i.e. there is only one gift for this person) all have the recipient's name written on something taped securely to the gift?

- Will you be wrapping stocking stuffers too? That is more of a planning thought - if you don't want to be faced with wrapping a bunch of small things it would be good to set that expectation up front - once again on the sign up form.

- I found that almost everyone at my parties forgot to bring their own scissors - some remembered tape - so plan to have a good supply on hand for all volunteers

- Will you accept items that have to be arranged in a gift basket? If so, will you be providing those supplies? (Baskets, filler, cellophane wrap, etc.)

- In the middle of a wrapping session - if needed- you could use sticky notes to temporarily keep track of what gift is for whom - this could even allow you to setup an assembly line

- On that note, doing a large effort like this would probably lend itself really well to an assembly line approach!

One station to greet/accept and sort (keeping groups of items together) and get them to the next station as a spot opens up.

Stations for the actual wrapping - with a side area for anything that needs to be put in a box with tissue paper like clothing.

Station(s) for bows, ribbon or other embellishments. Hot glue guns at this station would be fun - to glue on extra doo dads and embellishments as desired. If using wired ribbon to make bows have staplers on hand.

Station(s) for adding labels and grouping items together again for transport/pickup. Any gift without a label on it yet could be required to have a sticky note on it/with it at all times?

You'd probably also want to have someone (or a couple of someone's) who keep a running list of groups of gifts that are finished - with a place to check off when they are picked up (and make sure the person is authorized to pick them up) Maybe this person(s) has the original forms people filled out - or copies of them?

I'm just brainstorming here! :) Lots to think about!

- Finally it would be a great touch to have drinks (coffee, cocoa, tea, etc.) and low maintenance food items on hand to keep the volunteers going - in addition to playing Christmas music of course! If there is a TV around play classic Christmas movies with the volume turned down - just for the ambiance!!! lol

This is a wonderful idea! Let us know how your plans are coming and if there are more details it would help to discuss!!! I'm happy to chat with you directly too - I'm a party planner from WAY back so I am very comfortable with creating planning documents, spreadsheets, etc. to capture every element of an event!
This is fantastic! There's a lot of details you wouldn't necessarily think about until you're in the process of actually doing the wrapping.