Thursday, 30 October 2008

Wrapping Christmas Presents - HELP!

OK, I need your help again people. I'm working on a novella for a Christmas bundle - and one recurring scene involves the heroine working at the wrapping table in a dead posh department store - and the hero bringing her increasingly difficult presents to wrap as a joke (he invents a whole extended family to buy outlandish things for)...

but of course, I need to think of all those presents!

So what have been thehardest things to wrap in your experience? And, for the purposes of this, she doesn't have boxes or bags to use - just rolled wrapping paper and ribbon!!!

So far I have a ball, a butterfly net and an ice hockey stick... got any ideas for me? PLEASE!
;)

16 comments:

Joanne Coles said...

A telescope? I'm thinking they have to be long & thin so they are hard to wrap? Erm yes I am sidetracked now by naughty thoughts. A vase? Dead posh one of course!!

Natalie Anderson said...

LOL Joanne - now you got me thinking nawty!
Hmm, vase could be good tho... or fine china or something fragile...

Anonymous said...

Hi Nat!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the sound of your novella. As always I want to read it NOW (yes before you've finished it thanks lol). I'm an impatient person :).

I'm afraid I'm about to get carried away... I'm probably not quite as nuts as I sound...

My suggestions (assuming the guy's loaded :) ):
- a giant toblerone bar - the long kind. It has to be giant because that means one piece of paper won't fit (somehow I end up wrapping one of these every Christmas). A pentagon shaped chocolate box would be just as fun.
- a fishing rod
- an artist easel
- a bag
- a puppy/kitty carrier
- apparently footballs aren't easy to wrap
- a teddy bear (not macho but also not easy to wrap lol)
- there are these giant frangipani flowers that are about half the height of an average woman (personally I think you’d have to be nuts to try…)
- a sack of potatoes (that suggestion's more to amuse me... great visual, lots of swearing lol)
- a rake, shovel, hammer…
- wheelbarrow
- step ladder
- what about desk trays (Their proper name is missing from my mind right now sorry), magazine holders, hole punch (one of those that don’t come in a box), a stapler…
- corkboard/ whiteboard
- ooo have her wrap up a lettuce! :) lol
- vacuum cleaner or any other fun cleaning products (steam mops - I LOVE my steam mop)
- folding chair
- tent
- push bike
- stroller, car seat...does your hero like babies?
- book ends
- a mattress lol

Perhaps I’d better stop before I hurt myself?

Nikki

Anonymous said...

Sorry should have added. I was watching a show in which the family was extremely rich so although some of those things don't sound posh - ever seen a gold plated tape measure? The mother in the movie had one! lol It cost a fortune! So if you think of something you like but it doesn't quite fit with the store you can always gold plate it ;)

Nikki

Anonymous said...

The most difficult thing I can think of is a broom - I've nearly had to giftwrap one of those and that would've been hell! Especially when they stand there watch you wrap the thing!

Anonymous said...

Love your novella idea :)

I think Nikki's list is fab, not sure if there's much else to add :)

How about, cushions, children's dress up toys eg: fairy tiara, boys construction hat, large fairy wings. Shoes (not in a box), kids' bucket & spade, a small christmas tree, small garden fountain?

Good luck with the writing :)

Cheers, Joanne

Miss Bougie said...

What about one of those hand crafted dainty coloured glass wares that come from Murano in Italy? Very delicate animal, you know a horse with spindly legs or a dragon with a long fine tail, or chandelier with sockets for real candles,or table decoration flowers in glass (I actually got some for my birthday last year from a friend who'd been to Venice) or a carnival mask with lots of feathers attached to it?
I'll keep my eyes open when I go this week end. Maybe I can find some more ideas for you. I'll let you know next week.
Brigitte

Natalie Anderson said...

OMG Nikki - you're an angel - thanks so much for that list .... except the one thing that really scares me about it is that you put the words 'fun' and 'cleaning products' together in the same sentence... ummmm.... HELLLLOOOOOOO???
Oxymoron if ever there was one ;)

Stephanie a broom could be very good actually, do you think posh department stores stock them? I'm thinking this is one of those 'we stock everything' shops so of course it will ;)

And Joanne, a big fat YES to the small garden fountain - that really made me laugh. It can be for his Great Aunt Joanne - whaddaya reckon?!

Brigitte - you've got me onto Italy again. Sigh. But the carnival mask has me intrigued... for reasons I refuse to give away here... can't go giving all the story away!!!! ;)

Thank you all SO much - my wee brain is whirring...

Judy Jarvie said...

Haha! Love it.
Will ask my mum as she worked in a gift store for twenty years. She hated Xmas wrapping time! Tho she wraps a mean parcel.
I seem to remember her having to wrap up large expensive bronze statues!
Set of saucepans is another of my mother's faves (in the end she used a hamper) to disguise it.

jx

Aideen said...

How about trying to wrap a tea pot or indeed a kettle? Not too easy I'd say, but I'm sure your girl will do just fine. And if not, then she'll have a fabulous selection of stuff to throw at him!!

Aideen.

Anonymous said...

Hi Nat and all!

I was kidding about the cleaning products :) I haven't quite turned into Monica from Friends lol but I will admit to having a fondness for my steam mop... I'm a bit accident prone and it's not quite as easy to bop yourself on the head or fall over one of those :)

I love the idea of the fountain and the bronze statues (your poor mum Judy!).

I have a great vision of a heroine pelting the hero with china teapots :)!

Nikki

Avi J said...

Hi Natalie

Try wrapping a laundry basket. it is the worst, l bought it for mom when my allowance was just a little bit as a teen.

Natalie Anderson said...

Thanks so much for these other ideas guys - I'm having a lot of fun working thrugh them - and deciding on which cheesy Xmas music is playing in the store while she's at the wrap desk... been humming carols all day... and putting myself in the mood for Christmas!!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Natalie

The department store where I work actually sells brooms in the giftware department - they're definitely posh when compared to the ordinary ones. Wrapping two things together when they're different shapes in a challenge too - something I had to do yesterday!

Michelle Styles said...

Funnily enough in highs chool I worked for I Magnin's which was an incredibly posh department store as a giftwrapper. It used to regularly feature in Danielle Steel novels. It was sold to Macy's awhile ago.
We mostly used Magnin's boxes with ribbon. The boxes were gold with a red ribbon at Christmas time. it made it easier for people to return items. Difficult things to wrap are round large items such a popcorn containers and things that would not fit in the boxes. We used have some pretty big bozes... Hexagonal things are not to bad. Cookie jars though could be a problem.
And I can remember getting thrilled when I used to have to wrap things for variety of celebrities.

Natalie Anderson said...

cookie jars huh ?! YUM!!!! Thanks Michelle.
And Stephanie... yes, a broom might come in very handy! ;)