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If you look up the definition of frazzled in the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, you will see that it says “to put in a state of extreme physical or nervous fatigue.”
And then you will see my picture.
Seriously, people. I slump into bed some nights, and I have no idea how I made it through the day. The triplets have made my “state of extreme physical fatigue” a permanent personality trait.
Last week, on a day where I must have had extra caffeine because I felt particularly motivated, I decided to get a jump start on my holiday shopping. I knew that crowds would zap whatever new found energy that I had, so I pulled into my local Big Lots store. My husband and I have shopped at Big Lots for years. They always have a great value on name brand and trendy items, and I’ve never been in the store when it was crowded and difficult to maneuver. I went specifically on this day to check off all the items for the kids on my list. Between my own kids, nieces, nephews, and various charities that we donate to during the holidays, I had a pretty hefty list.
Insert frazzled mom confession: Okay. So my long list wasn’t actually written down on paper. It was all in my head. There’s no way I would forget anything, right?
I wondered around Big Lots for the better part of an hour. They had so many cool things that I wanted to buy! Styles and assortment vary by store, but they had pretty much every popular kiddo brand that I knew the kids on my list would want. From Hot Wheels to Barbie to craft kits, I found something for everyone on my list. The toy aisle included popular preschool toys and toys that featured characters from the newest kids’ TV shows.
As I was wheeling my cart to check out, the holiday decoration section caught my eye. Due to the destructive ways of the triplets, I haven’t decorated a ton inside the house for three years now, but I always like looking at the new decorations and wishing. It can’t hurt to wish, right?
And then an idea hit me.
Why can’t I use some of these cute holiday decorations in conjunction with wrapping my gifts? I adore the nontraditional holiday decorations that come in funky pink and purple colors, and I had several super girly girls on my gift list. Put the two together, and I had a slam dunk idea for using holiday decorations in order to embellish a super cute feminine holiday gift!
I grabbed garland, ornaments, bows, and gift wrapping supplies before heading to the register.
Even though the cashiers were not that busy, a nice cashier boy opened a new register just so that I wouldn’t have to wait. I glanced at my watch while he bagged the items and realized that I only had 20 minutes before the triplets’ preschool time ended.
Ahhh! I thanked the nice cashier, scooped up my bags, and made a mad dash for the parking lot. I arrived at the car and beeped the door open. About that time, I heard the rustling of plastic and someone calling, “Ma’am! Ma’am!”
I turned and saw the nice cashier boy.
Yep, frazzled mom had left two bags at the register.
How the heck does someone buy as much as I did and not realize that they walked out with just a few bags?
Insert the definition of frazzled here.
Thank heavens for the nice (honest!) cashier boy at Big Lots for helping this frazzled mom make sure that all of the kiddos on her list get their presents!
Lucky for one little girl on my list, I felt motivated enough after my shopping trip to go ahead and wrap her gift.
Insert frazzled mom confession: OK. Secretly, I just wanted to use the holiday decorations to craft. It’s the only thing that makes me feel not frazzled.
How to How to Wrap a Holiday Present Using Decorations
Step One
Gather your gifts, ribbon, garland, ornaments, bows, scissors, glue, hot glue gun, and tape. I bought everything from Big Lots to make sure that it matched! To make it easy to wrap the perfect gift, a rectangular box is best.
Step Two
Wrap the box in plain paper. This makes it simpler to match embellishments without them looking gaudy (yes, gaudy).
Step Three
Wrap the ribbon around the box and use glue to secure it in place.
Step Four
Cut pieces of garland to match the ribbon pieces. Use the hot glue gun to secure the garland over the ribbon. Make sure that the garland crosses in between beads so that they fit well together.
Step Five
Cut the hanging pieces from the ornaments and bows. Hot glue them on the present over the garland or other places on the gift, as desired. You may notice that I did not use the butterfly ornaments, even though they were in the above picture. I did a trial run with them before gluing them in place, and they looked a bit too much. I’m saving them for another gift wrapping idea! It’s a good idea to do a trial run before permanently gluing anything in place.
And there you have it! In one day, I headed to Big Lots and purchased all of my kid gifts, as well as cute additions to their gift wrap. With quality items at on point value, I encourage you to stop at Big Lots first this year when knocking out your gift list. You don’t have to sacrifice quality for price. Hopefully, you won’t be as frazzled as me during your shopping trip, but if you are, fingers crossed that there is a nice Big Lots employee to help!
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Wrapping presents has always been my least favorite part of the holidays. I like the idea of using plain boxes and embellishing with ribbon and other decorative items. Beats the heck out of cutting and folding paper!
What a nice idea! I love BigLots! They are one of my go-to stores for Christmas shopping!!
This is a very clever way of decorating a present. I will borrow your idea of using garland.
LOVE your wrapping! I agree, crafting keeps me from being frazzled too. 🙂
This turned out so cute! I can’t believe we are already talking about wrapping presents!
I just love all the awesome deals at Big Lots!! I love your idea for using decorations to wrap presents too!!
Having kids around the holidays is such a mix of disappointment and excitement. I miss having elaborate decor for the holidays too, but your gift wrapping ideas are fab, and I’m frazzled too – for the record – and I don’t even have triplets, so I can’t imagine your plight. #client
This is so clever and fun! I love all the great ideas to use as well. I didn’t even think to do that and I bet it is cheaper. Love it!