Ever been to a birthday party and you had to suffer through the wait as the honoree carefully unwrapped the paper?
Guess what? I’m that nut. Before you get all up in my grill about it, hear me out. I have a good reason to be saving all that paper (and to BOLO for vintage paper in my travels) as I reuse it for all sorts of things.
So if you too have the bug for paper, here’s ammunition to keep the critics at bay.
AIRPLANE SNACKS TO GO.
Whenever my family or friends are going on a long flight, I like to customize a snack set for them for the airplane. In the mad dash to get off to the airport, hardly anyone ever remembers how little time there is to pick up something there after security, and once you take off, you are hosed if you are stuck in that seat without nibbles. Little is available and whatever is, is crazy expensive and pretty iffy. The horror of a long flight and nothing good to look forward to in the eating department!
Friends don’t let friends fly hungry.
Best to be prepared with a little something packed, and this is where these packages come in handy. In the past I have included at least a couple of the following in on-board care packages: focaccia, goldfish, dried fruit of all kinds (mango and apricots are most popular), almonds, pistachios, cereal, granola bars, beef jerky, fruit gummies, salami, crackers, dried cheeses, dark chocolate, and tangerines.
Keeping it in clear bags means security is a breeze, and the little scraps of leftover giftwrap make everything look more festive.
BIRTHDAY CARDS.
Anybody notice how expensive birthday cards have gotten? I have whole shelves devoted to cards but most of them are blank or thank you cards but it’s really hard to find a break on bulk birthday cards. I will buy a new card for a special gift, but if I was to spend four dollars for every kid’s birthday my kids got invited to, it would be expensive as all get out. What kid gives a friend’s card more than a cursory look, anyway ? It’s all about the swag, not the card that precedes it.
Far better a homemade or vintage card or tag. Out of one scrap of paper I found at the bins, I got twenty of these above tags; I just cut out every happy birthday out of the scrap, glued it to poster board, and then boom, cute oversized tag/card.
Does it matter they aren’t perfect? No. I think they are still cute and there’s plenty of room on the back to get the point across — “Dear you, happy birthday, Enjoy your day, Love, me”. Boom, done. Efficient and thrifty and spiffy. Even the smallest scrap can work for this.
BAKED GOODS.
Last fall I was scrambling to find something to wrap up large slices of pumpkin cake for my Meals on Wheels route, and I came across this huge roll of crazy gift wrap (60’s?) I had bought. I lined giant sheets of it in wax paper (so buttery goodness wouldn’t leach through) and then got wrapping.
After all, if you go to all the trouble of making some homemade treat, doesn’t it make sense that the outside is as appealing as what’s in the inside?
SCHOOL PROJECTS.
How many of your kids spring a last-minute project on you? Luckily my kids are at the point that production is something they can handle on their own, but I am still Chief Supply Procurement Officer around here. If there is one thing my kids have learned, last-minute style can give a strong assist with iffy substance any day.
Don’t letters look great when traced out of vivid paper? Am I the only one who smells an “A” coming on for this book report?
SANDWICH WRAP.
This kind of thing works on all kinds of sandwiches but is best for baguettes, and is the perfect thing for sandwiches on the go or for picnics — just make a sleeve and you can slide it down as you go, keeping all the ingredients inside until you ingest. Great for individual mini-sandwiches for parties, too.
Have I enabled your packrat tendencies? I certainly hope so. And if not, and you are sitting on a major stash of cute paper scraps, you know where to find me.
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