The 12 Days of Christmas Décor, Day 9: Christmas Wrapping

Welcome to Day 9 of Blackbird Design Studio's 12 Days of Christmas Décor! Today's topic focuses not on what's on the Christmas tree, but what's under it: presents!

Day 9: Christmas Wrapping

No, not this one.

Now that the tree is decorated and, with any luck, the shopping's complete, it's time to disguise the gifts so carefully chosen for family and friends until The Big Day. Here are a few quick tips to make giving even better than receiving!

- To distinguish at a glance which gifts are staying under the tree and which are traveling to other homes, choose specific papers or wrapping styles for what stays and what goes.

- Natural or rustic materials like brown craft paper and twine are very popular, if Pinterest is any indication. Don't be shy about looking online for inspiration!

- Just in case a tied-on gift tag goes astray when transporting gifts to faraway family or friends, write the recipient's name or initials in an unobtrusive spot on each package to make the sorting easier at the receiving end. Better still, save the tied-on tags for hand delivered gifts and use adhesive tags for mailed packages.

- For those who don't have the time to wrap or don't feel confident about their wrapping skills, many shopping malls have wrapping kiosks -- usually staffed with cheery older women -- where wrapping services are available for a small donation to charity. Why not make a night of it at the mall and shop, bring everything to the kiosk, have a bite to eat, and pick up the wrapped presents after dinner? Everyone wins!

Feeling the Christmas crunch? Need some last-minute guidance? Stay tuned for Day 10!

Until next time,