For birthdays or holidays, the kids in my family always thought it was great fun to wrap a small gift in a huge box. That’s about as far as our imagination took us.
Well! Recently I learned that people have gone well beyond my childhood limitations, taking gift wrapping to innovative extremes. Decoy wrapping is a fun way to add an extra level of enjoyment to giving and receiving gifts. It’s a chance for humor and creativity. And perhaps for mischief, using the wrap as a prank to disguise the gift – or make it obvious – or to make the unwrapping a huge or complex task. Another way to make new, shared, happy memories.
It can also sometimes be a way to avoid the use of products like commercial gift wrap, which these days is largely made of plastic. As well as for up-cycling and re-using things that might otherwise be headed for the landfills.
I recently received a gift in this hand-made box which is itself a work of art, a beautiful thing that I plan to keep and display. The gift was musical, so she made the box to reflect that; and The Owl & The Pussycat is one of my favorite (also musical) poems, so the whole thing worked together so delightfully.
The box is made of scrap cardboard and household odds & ends. It has a magnetic closure. The maker even went to the lengths of learning the where and why of fret placement, so that would be accurate.
The guitar top is a colorful decoupage picture of the owl and the cat at sea in their boat. It’s precisely designed and very pleasing to look at – makes me smile every time I see it!
This is absolutely a gift that keeps on giving!
