I came across this blog site today, which reminded me of my three standards for gifts. I should note that I occasionally satisfy one, rarely two, never all three:
Gifts should be immediately accessible after a brief period of wrapping-destruction. Think of how gifts look when they are opened in the movies -- no 'CDs still in the wrapper', no ' got to get some batteries', none of that.
Gifts should be wrapped elegantly, with a spare simplicity that evokes origami. No tons of tape and sticks desperately holding the package together.
Gifts should reflect the personality of the person receiving the gift.
Perhaps next year, I'll make it!
4 comments:
I just hope that the gift I give is something they can use and enjoy...even if it does take them 30 minutes to get it out of the box.
I went through the same astonishment when prepping dolls as presents for my daughter that all fathers do. The people who put dolls into boxes are worse in their wrapping fanaticism than the (expletive deleted) people who wrap CDs in three layers of tape, plastic, and cellophane. I used to spend an hour delousing the box for her so that when she opened it, the doll was immediately usable. Similarly, when I got my wife her iPod, I made sure that it was immediately useable, right out of the box. I just don't think you should have to wait, not then.
Personally, I've always wanted to be able to wrap packages elegantly, but never have pulled it off. At least they don't look as severely rumpled as they used to, years ago.
immediately accessible. That would have been good advice BEFORE I gave my son those dinosaurs with interchangeable legs, arms, wings, etc. EACH piece was strapped to the box with wire that you could NOT twist off without puncturing your skin. It was SECURELY in the box ... that's for sure. Who takes the time to secure these pieces TO the box? And is it as hard as it is to UNsecure the pieces? Geesh.
I knew a lady who used to wrap for gift stores. Every time she gave me a gift it looked like the present was wrapped in a tuxedo or something. It was AWESOME.
I think we should add SPARKLY's ... all gifts want some sparkle. And an adornment. Or a really cool box.
I like that idea. It adds a bit of panache to my idea of elegant packaging. When I lived in Dallas, I once bought something at Neiman Marcus as a gift for my not-yet-wife, and they put a two inch wide 'wreath of bells' on the box. Today, we don't recall what that gift was, but we still have and are delighted by the wreath.
I remember those guys fondly because one of the gift-wrappers looked at me and said 'Are you married?' When I said no, she said she'd never known an unmarried guy to give a gift so nice. I told her she'd probably never known a girl friend as nice as mine, either.
I read the other day where a woman said that all of the guys, without exception, that she knew were lousy in their ability to wrap gifts; from the lumbering ones to the creative ones, they couldn't do it. On the other hand, she said, packages wrapped in Japan were so elegantly done that it was like unfolding a piece of origami -- sometimes the package was as literally attractive as the gift.
In Star Trek IV, Spock gives Kirk the gift of a book. It's not wrapped. In the novel version, Spock has come across a Japanese woman in a store doing gift wrapping in just that way. After Kirk has walked away with the book, Spock stands watching him go, absently refolding the origami-like wrapping back into its original shape. I've always liked that image.
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