Basic brown kraft paper from the dollar store, a red ribbon, an old photo printed from the computer, and the recipient's name stamped on front (I just wrote in black sharpie on the back who the gift is "from"). And since these are shipping out via postal service, they'll pack nicely in boxes without messing up the ribbons.
For the photos I selected some scenes from a past Christmas together, but I'm thinking I may go further back... WAY back and do a few from our childhood. Wouldn't that be fun? If you don't like the black and white theme, you could print these in color, or sepia, or whatever suites your fancy. And these were just printed on standard printer paper and glued to the front with a glue stick. Definitely simple and frugal (and I had such fun looking at the old photos!).
To give each package an extra special touch, I used a bit of that red and white baker's twine I'm so fond of lately to "tie it up" a bit...
Food gifts are a big item in our family... we like to share what we make that's really yummy. Using supplies I had on hand, I covered the jar in white paper, tied it up with some more red and white baker's twine, added a tag telling what's inside, and a sticker with our name embossed on top.
Years ago I invested in a simple embosser with our name on it and I've used it again and again. For the sticker, I just used some large printer labels for shipping in white and cut out 2" circles using a Marvy jumbo paper punch. (This is another excellent investment that I use all the time for gift giving tags with various embossers).
Understated, with just a touch of Christmas. These will go in kraft paper bags along with a scone mix and then accented with red gingham paper, a red ribbon, and some rosemary, boxwood, and pine tied to the front along with a stamped tag. (If you don't have a pine tree, but you have a cut Christmas tree, reach up underneath or deep inside and cut a few smaller branches. You can also use any evergreens available in your area.)
And with that, Christmas will be all wrapped up... simple. frugal. beautiful.
