Holiday Gift Wrapping Party

Ahh the holidays!  That magical season when we take time to stop and appreciate our family and friends.

Except at some point we decided to express our appreciation with gifts.

And with food.

And with fabulous, Pinterest-inspired displays on every horizontal surface in the house.

And suddenly we no longer had any time to appreciate the people we originally wanted to appreciate with all of our shows of appreciation.

You know you've been there:  it's Christmastime and you're invited to (another) event.  Sure you want to see people and socialize but you've got things to do.

It's this sense of rush, rush, rush that's prevented me from throwing Christmas parties in the past.

That is until I had an idea:

What if I threw a party where my friends could socialize and get things done all at the same time?  I suspected that I was on to something.

And thus my first (and soon to be annual) holiday gift wrapping party came to pass.

It started with a simple invitation:

Join me for an afternoon of gift wrapping.  

Bring any gifts that need wrapping and a roll of paper to share.  

I will provide tags, ribbons, embellishments and refreshments.   

And I have to tell you:

they came...
they wrapped...
they socialized...

It was truly a huge success.

There were two tables filled with anything one could possibly need for wrapping...

like stamps...

...and stickers & tags...

and paint chips and craft punches and fancy pens...

tape and scissors and ribbon of all kinds...

boxes and tissue...

and lots and lots of gift wrap!

Of course there was also food...

(Because all work and no food makes for a dull party.)

I wanted to make one of these in honor of the occasion but due to time constraints I purchased the ones below....

And these are my grandmother's snail cookies.  Recipe found here.  (No snails were harmed in the making of these cookies.)

When the eating was done, there was more wrapping.

Suddenly this task, which many of my guests said they typically abhor, became a fun, creative and communal venture.

And the proof is in the pudding.  Check out these beautifully wrapped gifts:

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