Gift Bags Vs. Gift-Wrapping

Holiday shopping is stressful enough, and now you’ve got to wrap the gifts?! Let’s unwrap the wrangling of gift bags vs. gift-wrapping.

It’s November, the beginning of the holidays! Gifts start taking a higher priority now. Perhaps you’ve participated in the biggest shopping weekend of the year, and now you’ve got piles of presents that need wrapping. You either have received a gift bag or have realized that you need to buy a gift at the last minute, and it needs to be wrapped. There’s no time for wrapping! So you swing by the store and pick up …drum roll, please… Gift bags.

Gift Bags Are Easy, Pleasy

We can swoop into Wally, grab the gift, the bag, and the paper, and prepare the gift for giving right in the comfort of our car. No scissors. No tape. No hard feelings.

please + easy = pleasy

They’re beautiful. They’re cute. They have flowers or Iron Man, exactly what the giftee loves! So you put the gift in the bag, add some colorful tissue.

Done.

Or so you think. It doesn’t end there. Gift bags don’t just go away. Like all our other stuff, they stick around to haunt us.

How many gifts have you received in gift bags? How many gift bags do you have now?

I bet the numbers are pretty close. You don’t rip the bags apart to get to the present. I just gave myself an idea for the next time I get a present in a gift bag! After the gifting’s all done, you still have a perfect gift bag.

So you keep it.

Gift Bags Are Reusable

I applaud you for that, by the way. I don’t even know if they’re recyclable. Are they recyclable? They’re not. It is wasteful to throw away that beautifully decorated paper so that you can buy another one and then throw it away. Reusing gift bags is good for the environment. Plus, if you have a few handy, you don’t have to make the extra trip to wrap the gift.

Unless!

…and you’ve been there…

You buy a gift on your way to the party and realize you have a gift bag full of gift bags at home. Yep. You don’t have time to go all the way back home, so you buy another gift bag.

Still, your intentions are good and correct. You should reuse the bags. If you get a gift bag that you remember giving, the system is working.

You should celebrate. Buy yourself a gift! And put it in a lovely gift bag.

You could always be prepared and have the perfect gift-ready.

The Ultimate Practical Gift Idea

Just had a thought: Do you know what would be a perfect, practical gift? I bet you see where I’m going. Next time you can’t decide what to buy someone for their upcoming special day, get them a gift bag full of gift bags they can use when they buy their next few gifts. Perhaps this 24 Christmas Kraft Gift Bags with Assorted Christmas Prints.

Now, what do you do if you find yourself with a big stack of gift bags from gifts you received? You don’t want to throw them away–we’ve already ascertained that they’re not recyclable–but we’ve got this growing stash of gift bags.

Here’s kind of a light love-pat punch to the gut.

That means you’re getting more gifts than you’re giving.

What?

Yes.

Gift Bags Are a Great Way to Keep Score

Maybe you just had a birthday. Or perhaps Christmas caused the purchase of several new gift bags in your circles. Either way, when the gift bag pile starts growing, that means it’s time to experience the joy of giving.

It means you’ve got some catching up to do.

Now at some point, all this spending of money and giving of gifts can get out of hand. I know. I’ve seen it. I saw it this morning.

However, that pile means that you are getting more than you are giving. That doesn’t necessarily make you a bad person. It could just be that some of your friends are insane, or bored, or both, but deep down somewhere, they are probably keeping score. <–Worst use of commas ever.

Exchanging gifts can be stressful. Read this to always enjoy a perfect holiday season.

What About Wrapping?

Next week: Gift wrapping.

Question:

How big is your gift bag collection? Do you have other ideas for gift bags? Let us know what you think on your favorite social site.