Do You Re-Wrap Gifts?

[Thipu1]

As Christmas grows closer, we receive gifts from family members who live far away.  Because these gifts are ordered on-line, they often arrive in plain, brown boxes.

If the box is marked 'perishable' we immediately unpack the box and put the food away.  If it isn't, we wrap the box and put it under the tree even if we don't know what is inside. 

Of course, all the senders receive email TYs to let them know that the gift arrived. Once the gift is opened, we will send another TY about the contents. 

Do other E-Hellions do this or, are we strange?

[MrsCrazyPete]

I don't think I would re-wrap the box unless the gift were for a child. But since I don't have children that is kind of a moot point. I would just open the box as instructed (open Christmas Day, stuff marked perishable, etc).

I don't think you are strange for wanting to do it though.

[Deetee]

I remember this came up before in the context of shower gifts. I personally said that I liked the gifts in their shipping packaging. To me it was MORE festive to have an exotic gift shipped to somewhere so I like to have the shipping packaging.

For Christmas, I would feel the same way. It gives the gift a story as it sits under the tree. We know where it came from and how it got to the house and symbolises how we have friends and family far away.

However, for the shower question, I was in the tiny minority so I think my feelings are not universal at all. Anyhow I prefer the story over how something looks. ( This could be because I don't have an eye or interest in decorating but I do like stories. For example, we have a polar bear skull in our living room. I added a rock and a toy kayaker trying to escape.)

[O'Dell]

I know some people wrap empty boxes and put them under the tree for decoration and to make the pile of presents look more bountiful. I'd view this as something similar.

[KenveeB]

I generally open shipped gifts as soon as they arrive, so no, no re-wrapping.

[camlan]

For the most part, on-line gifts that I have received have been wrapped by the store sending the package. Usually, there's more than one gift in the box--think two books and a DVD--and they are all wrapped when I open the box. I open the box when I get it and put the presents under the tree.

[Penguin_ar]

I generally open shipped gifts as soon as they arrive, so no, no re-wrapping.

Me too, unless I am asked to do otherwise or it's for the kids.  If it's for the kids, it gets re-wrapped in wrapping paper.  If it is for me or the husband and we were asked not to open till Christmas/ our birthdays/ whatever, it stays in its brown box.

[magician5]

I received just such a package today ... it's a wooden crate. The label says it's from Borneo, and a tag on it reads "Danger: Live Dragon." Every now and then a puff of sulfurous smoke leake out between the boards. I don't think I'll be re-wrapping this one.

Anyone know where to get dragon food? Maybe a shop in Diagon Alley.

[Thipu1]

I received just such a package today ... it's a wooden crate. The label says it's from Borneo, and a tag on it reads "Danger: Live Dragon." Every now and then a puff of sulfurous smoke leake out between the boards. I don't think I'll be re-wrapping this one.

Anyone know where to get dragon food? Maybe a shop in Diagon Alley.

If I recall properly, young dragons thrive on single malt whiskey although that could be the giant horses drawing the Beaubatons carriage.  in a pinch, young dragons would probably appreciate a nice, big bowl of Scotch Bonnets. 

Seriously, we received a gift today that required re-wrapping.  It came in a proper USPS envelope.  To make sure the gifts arrived safely, inside the bag, the packages were wrapped in a plastic grocery bag. 

Unfortunately, something sticky and icky had once been packed in the grocery bag. The gift itself was
 nicely wrapped but it was so sticky that we had to rewrap the thing. 

[Deetee]

I received just such a package today ... it's a wooden crate. The label says it's from Borneo, and a tag on it reads "Danger: Live Dragon." Every now and then a puff of sulfurous smoke leake out between the boards. I don't think I'll be re-wrapping this one.

Anyone know where to get dragon food? Maybe a shop in Diagon Alley.

I'm not sure. But keep the cat away.

[MMHou]

As Christmas grows closer, we receive gifts from family members who live far away.  Because these gifts are ordered on-line, they often arrive in plain, brown boxes.

If the box is marked 'perishable' we immediately unpack the box and put the food away.  If it isn't, we wrap the box and put it under the tree even if we don't know what is inside. 

Of course, all the senders receive email TYs to let them know that the gift arrived. Once the gift is opened, we will send another TY about the contents. 

Do other E-Hellions do this or, are we strange?

I'd never thought of wrapping the boxes before putting them under the Christmas tree. But seeing how much I love to wrap presents, and unwrap them, I think I'll do that this year!

Edited for clarification.

[Thipu1]

I just think that those plain, brown boxes under the tree look lonely.  They deserve to be as nicely dressed as every other package.

Okay.  I'm a Christmas crazy. 

[Hmmmmm]

If I received a gift directly shipped from the merchant I would assume the gift had been wrapped before packing in the shipping box, so I do open the shipping box.  If it is not wrapped I will wrap it. 

[Lynn2000]

I don't think it's weird. But, I always open shipped packages as soon as I receive them. If the individual contents were gift-wrapped, I'd leave them wrapped and put them under the tree. If they weren't gift-wrapped, I'd just start enjoying them right then, maybe put them under the tree as-is; I wouldn't rewrap them.

In my experience, the shipping box plus packing materials make the gift take up much more space than the individual items really do (a problem in my tiny apartment, and when I'm transporting stuff elsewhere). Plus, I've had some experiences where I've set the package aside to be opened later, only to find that I'd misread the label/made assumptions and it wasn't really for me at all, or it was something I had ordered to give to someone else. I shop almost exclusively online and receive a number of gifts from others through the mail also, so the potential for confusion is high in my house.

But as long as something like that doesn't happen often, it should be no skin off anyone else's nose if you wrap the shipping box up and put it under the tree for later.

[mandycorn]

My mom has been known to wish that every present under the tree could be wrapped in different paper, she loves wrapped Christmas presents that much, so I'm sure that if anybody mailed her things, she'd consider doing this.

The only reason I might not do this would be if there were a long delay between receiving the gift and Christmas, I'd want to open it right away and make sure that it wasn't broken during shipping, because addressing that sort of thing is so much easier the earlier it gets caught.