I enjoy wrapping presents, but I sometimes get tired of doing it the traditional way. (Why do I have to conform to what is “normal”? Plus randomness is fun, as evidenced on this blog.) Also, one of my pet peeves is when people are able to easily guess what is wrapped. When I wrap presents, particularly for my brothers, they aren’t going to guess what’s it in. I’ve employed various techniques to disguise it, such as including rocks, pennies, bricks, pine cones, etc., inside the box. And of course, the box should be one other than what the actual gift came in. You want to vary the size, weight, and sound it makes. There’s no anticipation if they already know what it is before opening it.
One year I put pennies inside a hard plastic case inside the main box, so when the present was shaken, it would make a crashing sound that happened after the normal sound, so it sounded like it was broken. 🙂 I’ve also made presents exceedingly difficult to open before, using numerous packagings and duct tape. Some of my presents cannot be opened in under a few minutes. That helps people savor the moment… 🙂
But beyond disguising it, I like to make it look unique. One thing I’ve started doing is saving the scraps of wrapping paper from other gifts to use on one package. Last year I did this on two different presents, which are displayed below. (Click the images for a larger picture.)
Hopefully this inspires you to be more creative with your wrapping this year. But a quick word of warning: not everyone appreciates this “art” the same way. It seems to work better on brothers and male friends, rather than parents, grandparents, and in-laws.
Buffet o' Blog 
birdpress
I love it! I love that you have fun with it and spend extra time on the wrapping. I would be thrilled to receive such a gift, whatever happened to be inside the box. I personally love to gift wrap too, but I’m creative in different ways.
Fab
You need to master another art: Leave the wrapping and gift-buying to the wife! Guys don’t wrap presents, even with duct tape! Whenever I’m in the unfortunate position of having to buy and conceal a gift on my own (usually a gift for my gift wrapper/buyer), the gift bag (which had to be a guy’s idea) is figured into the purchase price of whatever the gift happens to be. If you want to make it look like you really worked at it to impress her, get some of that tissue stuff (don’t blow your nose on it first) and just stick it in the bag on top of the gift and leave some sticking out the top. Women like that stuff and you can spend your time doing guy stuff like scratching or something instead of wrapping presents.
Thomas Wayne
Fab, on Christmas Eve, you will be visited by three ghosts, who through flashbacks and foreshadowing will reveal that you are a scrooge and that you should find it in your heart to enjoy Christmas. 🙂
FYI, there are manly gifts and manly methods of gift-wrapping (see above, plus using duct tape works). For too long the gift giving portion of Christmas has been feminized, so we need to make our influence heard!
Fab
BTW, to “birdpress”: I was required to press flowers for a biology class one time, but never birds. How does that work? How long does it take them to dry? Do you press them with the wings spread or the wings folded? Inquiring minds want to know.
birdpress
Fab, uh, no. The birds line up on a long bar that is set above a weight bench. The stronger you are, the bigger birds you use. You can start small, with parrots and things. The annoying thing about using parrots is that they like to try to “help” you. Mine say things like, “come on, you wuss! You can do more than that! What, do you need us to switch to hummingbirds now, you lightweight?” Fortunately I’m well beyond the parrot stage. I’m now using several large turkeys while training my ostrich to perch. If you do try pressing birds, remember to use a face covering of some sort because, you know, “accidents”.
Thomas Wayne
I’ve done some weightlifting with turkeys before. One of them was named Mango-Man.
HA HA HAR HAR HAW HAW HEE HEE
Beppo
I’ve also done some weightlifting with turkeys. But instead of a long bar, I use a fork to lift them. And usually the whole bird isn’t lifted, but just pieces of it at a time, so I have to do this many times to get a good workout from it. But I’m willing to put in the extra time to get in shape.
MangoMan
TW don’t get meet started on your weightlifting travesty!!! for the record you are eventually SUPPOSED to put some weight on the bar when lifting :O