Search This Blog

Friday, December 12, 2014

How to Wrap a Gift Bottle of Wine in a Hurry

'Tis the season to be sipping! Okay, so that's pretty much every season when you're a wine lover, but when it's also the season of giving, wine lovers may feel even more compelled to share the pleasure of a good vintage with friends and family. After all, what's better than a gift of a good bottle of wine?

Wine is a great choice for a last minute gift when you've run out of time to shop, or have just run out of ideas for what to give someone. Let's face it, once you reach a certain point in life, you don't really need more stuff. When someone gives you a bottle of wine however, it takes up very little space, you consume it, you enjoy it, and you later remember it fondly.

These are all big wins, but best of all, you - or your gift recipient - won't get any unwanted clutter from a wine gift. The article below, originally published in January of 2011, details what to do when it's time to wrap that gift bottle of wine when you're pressed for time.


Emergency Wine Bottle Gift Wrap Solutions


A bottle of wine makes a great gift for just about any occasion. When it comes to presenting a gift bottle of wine, especially as a surprise, gift wrapping can present a bit of a challenge, however. If the wine is a last minute gift, wrapping can be particularly tricky.
In an emergency almost anything can be used to wrap a gift bottle of wine. A wine tote or even the bag it was placed in at the time of purchase can be used as gift wrapping. Figuring out what to use will depend on what is available at hand.
If you are in the supermarket buying a bottle of wine and there is a floral department, see about getting some of the floral tissue to wrap your bottle. If the market also sells balloons you can try and get some curling ribbon cut to tie around the neck of the bottle.
If you are buying the gift wine in a specialty store such that also carries table linens you can use a couple of dinner napkins to wrap the bottle. If nothing is available to use as a ribbon, ask the sales clerk for a rubber band or fold another napkin into a narrow strip and use it as a tie to hold the others in place.
If you have the bottle of wine already and you are at home, you can make your own gift wrap by recycling a large brown grocery bag or with plain old freezer paper from the kitchen. Draw lines or designs on the paper with a sharpie and you’ll have your own instant, custom gift wrap.
Depending on who the gift is for, you can use a reusable cloth item such as a ladies scarf, tea towel or even a small folded table cloth as emergency gift wrapping. This way the gift wrap is also a part of the gift. In a real pinch an extra large T-shirt could be turned into reusable cloth gift wrapping. Simply cut off the top under the sleeves and open the resulting tube to create a rectangle of fabric.
A tote bag can also be pressed into service as an emergency gift bag as long as it is not too large. Stuff plastic grocery bags around the wine bottle inside the tote the way you would use gift tissue in a paper gift bag.
Of course, if you often give wine as a gift, the best thing to do is to avoid an emergency all together by having a supply wine gift bags and tubes on hand in the first place. If that isn’t a viable option, or if you’ve just run out of wrapping supplies, one of these emergency solutions should work for you.