It's a wrap! Christmas gifts with M&S
We're getting closer to Christmas people! You can't visit a shop and not go straight for the seasonal decorations; and if I am honest, I just bought a few candles this week, all perfect for the months ahead. Cranberry, cinnamon, spruce, I have it all. And I am already organising the colour themes for our Christmas trees (yes, that's right, there are two of them again this year).
You simply cannot get into the Christmas spirit without the proper songs! For me, Michael Buble's 'Christmas' album does the trick!
How good are you at gift wrapping? To me, wrapping presents is part of the whole Christmas experience. I have always enjoyed the process - putting the music on (Michael Buble if you want to know), having some hot cocoa by my side and being ready to rock a roll (a wrapping paper roll that is).
Gift wrapping can make your present look a lot more expensive than it might be. It can add a fan factor, suspense (with multiple layers of paper!) and even hidden messages. And more to the point, it gives you extra brownie points for clearly making an effort!
I'm about to start working on my gifts. Scissors, tapes, ribbon, paper but also inspiration from my favourite magazines, gift tags and of course, mince pies! For similar silver ribbon try here.
If you follow me on social media, you might have caught me doing some gift wrapping with fellow bloggers at an event a few weeks ago. The event was organised by Marks & Spencer, with all gifts to be donated to the Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).
This is a great cause and I am so proud to have taken part in wrapping presents for kids and parents who, very sadly, will be spending their Christmas in the hospital.
Marks & Spencer want to spread their 'gift of giving' message so invited me to choose a couple of gift items that are notoriously difficult to wrap and have a go at making the most with their new Christmas wrapping paper.
My first pressie to wrap was this awesome pair of gold slippers, complete with pom-poms. You know a gift is great when you want to keep it for yourself! And these slippers are just the deal! They're for someone special who reads this blog but I cannot tell their name, or they'll know!
Now, I could be putting them in a gift bag. No!! The whole point is to make the effort, as I said. So instead of buying a gift bag I made one and you can too! The photos are not very helpful? No problem, try this video instead!
Do NOT forget to take the price tags off before closing your present.
For my wrapping supplies, I used a very small part of the Spruce Festive Foliage 3m (£3) wrapping paper which is really strong and has wonderful metallic accents. The Spruce gold wrap accessory pack (£5) has plenty items to use on a few presents, including tags, ribbons and stars.
With the extra material, I also wrapped up smaller boxes with perfume - great stocking fillers!
The watercolour botanical calendar is also by M&S and you can find it here. At £6 it is such a good value!
Besides wrapping your present you should be ready to embellish it with extras. The ribbon, the bows, the gift cards. The more the better!
Hide your message under the gift card and glue it on top of the present. Add a bow on top of it. For smaller guest gifts that you have arranged for the Christmas table, throw a few confetti around the table too, to complete the look.
My second challenging gift was an antique brass candle snuffer - perfect for the season ahead!
Now, this little baby does not come in a box. I did have some bubble wrap however and decided that to give this one some edge I would use a candy type of wrapping. For this style you need again a piece of paper that is almost twice the length of the item you are wrapping.
For this one, I used the Joyeux Noel tartan wrapping paper which is much stronger and has an almost vinyl feel to it. You can add baubles or big bows at the ends. Copper and champagne colour work really well. And see the twine I used? That was regular garden twine! Bits of mistletoe or spruce would have also worked so well here!
Resource library: Gold Slippers, Candle Snuffer, Spruce Paper, Tartan Joyeux Noel paper, Baubles, Spruce Ribbons and Bows pack, Botanical calendar.
About the Great Ormond Street Hospital: GOSH is one of the world's leading children's research hospitals with the broadest range of dedicated, children's healthcare specialists under one roof in the UK.
The hospital's pioneering research and treatment gives hope to children who are suffering from the rarest, most complex and often life-threatening conditions, from across the country and abroad.
Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity is hugely proud to be working with Marks and Spencer who are generously donating £500,000 towards vital research to help children with nutrition and allergy related conditions.
To help GOSH you can donate directly to them here. Every donation counts so please please dig as deep as you can to help GOSH help more children.
This is a sponsored post but all opinions and art direction are my own.
100% proceeds from this post are going to charity.
