MISMATCHED CHRISTMAS GIFT WRAPPING

Of course it's what's inside that counts, but I always like to make a special effort with the wrapping paper too. I usually go down the brown paper route - especially when there's a stash of beautiful velvet ribbons at hand (Tiger is the best. You can't go wrong with £1 a roll!)

This year, I picked out a few rolls of coloured wrapping paper as well - again, from Tiger. Although there are three different types of paper, the gold brings everything together and I think that harlequin turquoise makes for such a great contrast. Hooray for non-Christmas Christmassy colours!

These hand-painted gift tags were just about all the crafting I could muster this year. It was actually really relaxing to get my paper and paints out and spend an evening designing different baubles and despite the minimal effort, I actually think they turned out rather sweet! At the last minute, I also did a few red toadstools inspired by my favourite vintage decorations - they go perfectly with the acorn paper!

Luckily I have a small family so Christmas wrapping doesn't take too long. I like to make an evening of it - I had a glass of mulled wine and Graham Norton on in the background while I wrapped up my presents. This might be a dorky thing to suggest, but wouldn't it be fun to have a wrapping party! You could pool resources with friends, put on some Christmas music and get wrapping. Or, the easiest alternative, just go somewhere where they do it for you - last year I blogged about Kiehl's who offer hands down the best gift wrapping service.