Kelly and Michael: Katie Brown Gift Wrapping & Double Sided Tape

Kelly & Michael: Countdown To Christmas

The weeklong Countdown To Christmas continued on Live with Kelly and Michael. It has featured a performance from Broadway’s Annie as well as a look at the best Christmas apps for your phone or tablet. Now it’s time to sharpen those gift wrapping skills with Katie Brown.

Live with Kelly and Michael: Katie Brown

Katie Brown is great at everything domestic, but she knows that wrapping can be difficult for some of us. She was prepared with a tool belt for Kelly and a gift wrap necklace for Michael, containing all the tools they would need to wrap a basic box.

Her tools included basic scissors and a wrist corsage to keep tape handy. Katie pitted Michael and Kelly against one another to see who could wrap the best package. How would you fare in this contest? I find that gift wrappers either have it or they don’t; there is very little room in between.

Kelly and Michael: Double Sided Vs Regular Tape

Katie Brown recommended keeping two types of tape handy: double sided tape and regular tape. Pull your box toward the edge and wrap paper over the top. Tape the paper down in a couple places over the edge, unlike Kelly, who cannot follow simple instructions.

Pull the paper snugly over the box and use the scissors to make a clean cut, letting the scissors glide in a straight line. The co-hosts went crazy in their contest as Katie calmly tried to explain how to do it right.

You can use the double sided tape to hide your “tape work” and tightly fasten the edges of your paper. Don’t forget to cut excess paper off one side. It doesn’t have to be cut straight, because you can fold it under as you finish wrapping.

Kelly & Michael: Christmas Gift Wrapping Ideas

In the melee, I think Katie Brown might actually have ended up wrapping the worst gift. Kelly finished wrapping her box with a bow, so I guess she was the winner.

Once you get the box wrapped, Katie Brown said you can decorate the box creatively to make it personal. Katie glues branches and other natural elements to newspaper to create custom wrapping.

Colored tape allows you to create stripes. You can also glue buttons or other craft items to the wrapping paper as well. Have you ever thought of reusing children’s artwork as wrapping paper?

Kelly and Michael: Toy Gift Toppers

Use Ball jars (typically for canning) as gift containers for jewelry. They are easy to decorate as well. Repurpose children’s old toys as gift toppers to make a special memory.

Make it colorful by choosing a particular color scheme for your gifts. Make a snowman out of doilies. Add black and white photos to your wrapping, and keep bags handy for awkwardly sized items.