One of our early customers shares her first experience with EverWrap, thank you Chantalle for this beautiful testimonial!
"I try to simplify December as much as possible.
I discovered a few years ago when my kids were really little that I needed to be done with Christmas shopping by December 1st so that I can focus on all the fun and traditions we want to have during the month. I had figured out that trying to think of ideas and shop were my biggest stressors, so I tried to simplify by purchasing things in October and November (Black Friday online!). Then I started to decline invitations to friend events in favor of watching a Christmas movie with our kids and baking cookies. I realized the month would get away from us quickly, so whatever I could do to slow it down, and for me to be calm, it was worth it. It is really important to me that we have a lot of family time, and that we aren’t so busy with unimportant things that December just flies by.
One aspect of this that I had not mastered yet was wrapping those presents! I usually tell myself that after the kids go to bed, I will get out the wrapping paper and some toys, and wrap while my husband and I watch a Christmas movie. Except that I am always too tired at the end of the day, and I always underestimate how long it takes to wrap! I taught my cousin when she helped me one year, and was shocked by how long it took the two of us to wrap a few gifts for my kids- it is a life lesson that it always takes longer to wrap than you think it will take!
Enter: Everwrap.
I watched the promo videos and was intrigued. I usually wrap our presents in only red and white wrapping, just so it looks fun and festive on Christmas morning, so I zoned in on the red EverWrap collection. Those giant red boxes looked magical! I loved the idea that my kids would have the tradition of a big, red box every year!
I am a big fan of easy traditions, so something that made things easier for me, was beautiful, and created a fun tradition for the kids to look forward to checked all the boxes for me!
Our first use for EverWrap was December 1st, when I give my kids Lego advent calendars. They fit perfectly into the big red box, and were much more festive than me propping them up on the counter as I have in the past. The next day was my birthday, so the kids grabbed a couple of the pink EverWrap and put in a couple of things for me. It was so fun! And no mess from them wrapping for me to clean up later!
I always keep our presents hidden until Christmas morning when the tree is then full of presents underneath, but this year we kept out a few of the small red boxes under the tree, and it looked beautiful! They were empty, but added so much to the room for no effort. I kept trying to find ways to keep using them because they look so good!
I keep a list on my phone of what presents I buy for each of our four children, and for our parents. It helps me make sure I know how much I am spending for each person, and it helps me visualize what they are getting. Almost every present for our kids is Legos and books, along with an outdoor activity (this year was soccer balls!) For Christmas this year I decided to wait until a few days before Christmas to put the presents into EverWrap so I could keep them wrapped, but hidden until Christmas morning. The day before I wrapped, a friend told me that every store in our area was out of wrapping paper- she had checked multiple Target, Walmart, and Dollar Tree stores! I spent some time that afternoon, and “wrapped” everything I had with the EverWrap. It took me less than an hour to pull everything out from hiding spots, and then package up presents for our four kids, my husband, myself, and our parents. Everything looked so great!!
One perk I didn’t expect is something I mess up every year…
I pile up each person’s present in their own pile and put name tags on them, but sometimes… I get distracted and forget what I just wrapped. Or wait- did I end up with two of the same set?? Didn’t I already wrap one of those?? That leaves me unwrapping something I already wrapped up. It was SO nice to just quickly look inside a present I had already packaged if needed (it was needed, twice). It is also discouraging when I wrap something odd-shaped in wrapping paper and it pokes through the wrapping! It was already not fun to wrap, and then I have to try again. Or put a sticker on that spot. In contrast, I loved having EverWrap in so many different sizes, so everything had beautiful packaging without me trying to figure out the best way to wrap it again, and not waste the whole roll of wrapping paper.
One fun project for me was personalizing the packaging with wood name tags! For my birthday early in the month I got some wood working tools, so I got to work on afternoon with my oldest son and we cut, drilled, sanded, and stained a bunch of wood tags, then used a vinyl cutter to put names on them. They are gorgeous, and I put them away in the tote for EverWrap- so they are ready to go to birthdays and Christmas for many years to come!
Christmas morning was amazing as always. The kids loved opening their gifts in the gorgeous packaging, and clean up was so easy!
I wondered if they would miss tearing into wrapping paper, but they all four said unwrapping the bows and lifting the lids was just as fun!
We folded up the boxes and bags, and put them in a tote for next time. That’s it! The room was full, abundant, and magical- all things I work to achieve for Christmas morning. EverWrap made my preparations a ton easier, and made our morning beautiful!
For me, EverWrap ended up solving more problems than I expected it to. I loved the idea and the design, and right when they arrived we all fell in love! My mom had ordered a few items with mine, and began looking up more immediately when we opened the boxes because we were all impressed. We have already used them for two more cousin birthdays that happened after Christmas, and I plan to keep them handy for other times when they can easily improve a gift-giving situation."
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Chantalle, you certainly captured the busy-mom solution we were aiming for - and can relate to everything you just said! Unwrapping presents we forgot to tag, making a beautiful explosion under the tree, saving time - YOU NAILED IT. Thanks again for your support and for this beautiful post!
xo
EverWrap