Gift wrap tips from the pros
Gift wrap pros offer tips after the fifteenth annual Scotch Brand Most GIfted Wrapper contest held in Manhattan in December. Credit: Handout
Okay, we’re down to the gift-wrapping wire here—less than 24 hours to Christmas, halfway through Hanukkah…and we’re betting (unless you’re one of those uber-prepared, plan ahead types) you still have a few gifts to wrap. Don’t sweat it, says Renee Goetz…and she knows a little about gift wrapping (and, um, sweat). She was a contestant in this year’s fifteenth annual Scotch Brand Most Gifted Wrapper Contest, sponsored by 3M (makers of Scotch tape) and held this month at Rockefeller Center.
Goetz, a Forest Hills collage artist, is also a gift wrapper at Kate’s Paperie in Manhattan, the gourmet stationery and gift wrap chain that’s like a little cloud from heaven for anyone who digs paper. Needless to say, she’s wrapped all kinds of gifts, but this contest was a real challenge. The wrapping hopefuls had to wrap—get this—a gumball machine, an old-fashioned snow sled and—hello!!, and you think you’ve got it tough—a six-foot tall backyard play set. Yeah, those Scotch brand judges are sadistic.
Alas, Goetz, our local fave, didn’t win—that honor (and $10,000) went to Rosie Sato, from Gardena, California.
If wrapping’s not your thing, fear not. Here are some tips from the pros:
