Wrapping Ideas for Gift Cards

[Bijou]

You could do a treasure hunt.  Hide their gift cards somewhere in the house then give them an envelope with the first clue, then lead them to several more clues before the final clue reveals the location of the gift card.

I gave my nephews cold hard cash a couple of years ago.  I froze twonies in layers in peanut butter jars.  You could do that with a gift card, too.  Put some water in the bottom, freeze it, put the gift card in, add more water and freeze again.

Don't they have a magnetic strip that could be damaged by wet and freezing temperatures?  I don't know, but it is a thought.

[Bijou]

My husband once gave his mom a lovely gold chain which he hid within a roll of toilet paper. The plan was that he would wrap the roll like a gift, she would open this roll of toilet paper and have to go through it to find the gift.  I don't think it ever got that far.  It somehow fell out of the roll before he wrapped it and got lost in the grass.  He said I found it but I don't recall finding it at the time.  Maybe years later, or something.  Anyway, that was a big fat booboo.  So, I don't recommend that.   

[wolfie]

*Cackle*

I have hidden cash in

1) a box of (set) concrete
2) a puzzle box
3) an epoxied stainless steel martini shaker
4) a 2 foot by 2 foot solid mass of nails and 2 by 4's
5) an old comfy chair

Op - if you do any of those I would be 100% sure that your recipient would appreciate them. The puzzle box I would find fun, the concrete, martini shaker and mass of nails and 2 by 4's I would find a chore and if I knew the amount might just leave it behind because it wouldn't be worth the work depending on how much the card was worth.  The old comfy chair kinda confuses me - sounds like it means just lift cushions and I would be fine with that.

I know there are some people who would enjoy the ones I wouldn't so if you know your family would then go for it.

[Amara]

I think Kirby would like the concrete or the 2x4 ones. I can see him being amused. The martini shaker, while good for someone else, could not be used in our family as almost everyone--excepting my other brother and I--have or have had alcohol problems. So ... no booze-related gifts even if they are the "box."

[rose red]

How about putting sister's card inside a box of Bicycle brand playing cards before putting inside the basket?

[Lynn2000]

How about putting sister's card inside a box of Bicycle brand playing cards before putting inside the basket?

Oh, I like that. It's clever and the card is hidden, but yet not really that difficult to find or liable to get lost.

[artk2002]

If you're really clever, you do something like this:

Reverse Geo-Cache

Edit: Please read all 4 chapters of the story!

[afbluebelle]

You could put it in a big box with a helium balloon tied to it. When the box is opened, the card floats out

[sevenday]

When I had a relatively small item for my brother (it was a turtle necklace in a small box) I wrapped it, and then thought, "Gee this looks really small compared to everybody else's boxes."  After some thinking, I raided my stack of boxes - roomie and I save various cardboard boxes from different sources so we'll have a variety of sizes to pick from when we want to wrap/mail something.  I selected one a coffee mug came in, a shoebox, and then a USPS large priority type box.  I "nested" them, then filled in the space with decoy small boxes, all wrapped with scrap odds and ends of wrapping paper and newspaper.  Then I wrapped the large outer box with newspaper, specifically the crossword puzzle pages since my brother loves those.  It LOOKED big, rattled a little when shaken, looked great.  My brother went from excited to skeptical, to exasperated, and finally to laughter when he began digging through all those boxes.  It probably didn't help that I put messages in the decoy boxes. (Along the lines of: "Nope, not this one."  "Your present is in another box." - obscure nerd ref there, he got it though. And so on.)

[Amara]

These were all such great ideas (and, Art, a wonderful story). Thank you! Here is what I ended up doing:

The bicycle gift card for my sister was placed inside a well-used pack of bicycle playing cards. I had to take it out of its paper holder so it fit perfectly among the cards. The deck in turn was wrapped up and put into a small box that fit it well and then that was wrapped as well but it also had a small bow on it. Then that box was put inside a tissue-filled well-used bicycle helmet I got from someone on Freecycle. It is a snazzy one with neon purples, blues, and blacks. It had been in a small accident once so the woman didn't want her daughter using it again but she had been hanging onto it because it was too good to throw out. So she gave it to me. The helmet is now in its own box, gaily wrapped and be-ribboned.

The Target gift card for my brother is in its own small box, which is wrapped and sits inside a smallish salad spinner I found on CL for $5. It's in perfect condition so he can use it (he eats a lot of salads for dinner). That spinner is lined with tissue paper and the boxed card is buried in that. There are also a couple of bunches of radishes that I will add to it Christmas morning before I wrap the box in which the salad spinner will sit.

My other sister is getting the CVS card that she uses to buy a monthly supply of make-up. So from a friend I got a black velvet small make-up bag that has a large red sequined set of lips on one side. I am going to stuff it with tissue paper and maybe some empty make-up containers (used lipstick) for fun, then it is going inside another beautifully wrapped box.

I am quite excited to think how puzzled they will all be at first, then the ensuing laughter. Thanks again! You really set my creative spark afloat,

[Outdoor Girl]

Great job, Amara!

[WillyNilly]

Sephora sells a cute little body wash that comes in a box with a gift card slot - I just use those.

With all of these clever ideas be careful to tell the person you are putting the gift card in there.  If I got a pack of cards as a gift I'd thank the giver and smile and then put them right into the "off to charity pile" later without ever opening the box.  I wouldn't look in a shirt pocket if I didn't like the shirt.  A make-up bag would be stashed until something spilled in my current one - could be a year or two before I looked in it. Etc.  In fact I once gave a $50 check to charity because it was put inside a gift wallet I didn't want and I never looked.  At least with a check it was made out to me and therefore never cashed so the giver wasn't out anything, but with a gift card you are straight-up out the money.

[Giggity]

Origami envelope.

[Amara]

I won't let them toss the weird packaging aside until they find the gift cards. I know that's a possibility so I intend to "nag" them until they find the actual cards. Then we can all laugh at the crazy things I did.

[IslandMama]

Sounds like fun, Amara!

I had a gift card for my brother's girlfriend.  We have "the box" which has been in use for 16 years now and it gets passed among the family and then whoever gets it uses it as the wrapping for a present the following year.  It's just a hexagonal box with vintage Santa pictures on it and it's always fun to see it under the tree and speculate as to who gets the box this year, it's one of the very few traditions we have.  We had our family Christmas on the weekend and I stuffed the box with a strand of tinsel, tiny ornaments for their tree and the gift card.  She loved it, but I think what she loved more was that she got "the box" and all it means to us.