Volunteer Gift-wrapping :)

Every year, instead of spending the imfamous Black Friday getting up at the crack of dawn to snag the best deals out there, I get ready to spend most of my day volunteer gift-wrapping at my local Barnes & Noble bookstore, where all the donations we receive goes directly to the Greyhound Rescue that I also volunteer with.

While B&N supplies the basics like paper, scissors, and tape, we like to furnish our efforts with extra materials including more gift-wrap, bows, ribbons, tags, and toppers. We found that making the packages extra special really meant a great deal to the customers and in turn our efforts were rewarded in the form of generous donations; 100% goes to the greyhounds.

But we also found that we were spending a lot on toppers. So, while I was watching craft shows one holiday season, I got the idea to make toppers from recycled materials, mainly holiday cards to maintain the festive spirit. We sent out requests to friends, family, co-workers, and in turn each spread the word even further to save their holiday card cover and pass them along to out rescue group. Soon, we had boxes and boxes (BIG boxes) FULL of holiday cards which we turned into toppers such as the ones pictured here. Another great thing about the toppers, is that they can also serve as ornaments. So customers left with a beautifully wrapped present, a free, handcrafted ornament, and monies were raised for the doggies :D

Many of the ornaments are very simple, most of which the patterns can be found online.

The dangling ornaments are very easy and have a big impact! The jingle bell at the bottom adds an extra festive touch :)

The store in which I volunteer at is in a area with a large Jewish community. In addition to Christmas packages, we also wrap many gifts for Hannukah. Winter scene cards with silver, white, and blue (and even some Hannukah cards!) make wonderful dreidels that look fabulous on packages with coordinating ribbon :)