Daily Archives: December 23, 2009

The Goods on Wrapping Gifts

December 23, 2009
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I’m about to head upstairs and finish wrapping presents for Christmas Eve. So in the spirit of gift wrap, I thought you’d enjoy some of these stats, courtesy of the Scotch brand tape people, on how most people wrap (or don’t wrap) their gifts. Speaking of Scotch, I think that the Scotch Gift Wrap Cutter is one of the best inventions since sliced bread!

  • One in four people wrap their holiday gifts one or two days before giving the gift (27 percent). Yup, it’s T-12 or so hours to Christmas Eve (when our family opens presents at my mother-in-law’s house) and I haven’t even started my wrapping.
  • Another 22 percent wrap three to six days before the gift-giving occasion.
  • When it comes to wrapping this year’s holiday presents, nearly three in four adults (71 percent) are most likely to purchase gift wrap supplies and wrap the presents themselves, while one in five (19 percent) will put items in a gift bag instead of wrapping them. Just three percent said they will have gifts professionally wrapped at a store. (Do those people still exist?)
  • Nearly a quarter of adults surveyed (24 percent) list not having the right supplies on hand as the most common gift-wrapping mistake, second only to not knowing how best to wrap the gift (32 percent). Twenty percent cite wrapping with too little paper as the culprit, while another 20 percent say using too much paper is the big mistake.
  • Just over half of the adults surveyed (53 percent) have saved and re-used gift wrap paper, with women (61 percent) more likely than men (44 percent) to recycle used gift wrap. Guilty as charged!

Where do you fall in the gift-wrapping spectrum?

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Countdown to a Frugal Holiday: Dollars Stores

December 23, 2009
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My mother in law has a tradition with my daughters. Every December she brings them to the local dollar store and has them shop for everyone in the family. It’s a great way for my mother in law, who is on a limited budget, to help the girls shop in a way she can afford. And it’s a great way for my daughters to think creatively about gifts they need to buy for parents, uncles and more. (Last year I got two bottles of hand sanitizer from them. Be still my germophobe heart!)

If you’ve got last-minute shopping to do and you’re on a limited budget, you might want to stop into your local dollar store and see if you can’t finish up your shopping there. I was just perusing the Family Dollar website and found some of the follow gift ideas that would fit any frugal budget:

  • Candles, pictures frames and bath sets–all perfect hostess gifts to use now or stash in your gift closet (and all for $5 or less)
  • Brand-name toys, like Disney princesses, for the young ones on your shopping list
  • Boxes of candy canes for a buck each (my daughter’s gift of choice to hand out to her classmates)
  • Tissue paper, wrapping paper and gift bags

Do you do well in dollar stores, too? What are some of your favorite finds–for holiday gifts or everyday uses?

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