News Glorious News--Light-hearted Gift Wrap

                                                                                   Newspaper bows & wrap, Homage to Aunt D.
First posted December 7, 2009


My first Christmas morning in St. Louis, when I was about 8, my stepfather Bob, Mom, little brother Mark and I rode out to see Bob’s Aunt Daisy.  We’d just moved from Washington DC, where it was warmer.  St. Louis that morning was bitter cold, the sky leaden, air snowy.  Aunt Daisy had hit upon hard times but managed to find a tiny house for her family, behind Grant’s Farm, the Anheuser Busch brewery estate.  Even though it was surrounded by suburbia it seemed like the country, hard country.

 It was a tarpaper shack.  Aunt Daisy and her kids were delighted to see us, ushering us into the front room.  There were no lamps so the room was shadowy but the gas space heater was cranked up high, casting a warm blue-y glow as well as making the place surprisingly toasty.

In the bag of gifts we brought, besides a turkey, bread, milk and eggs, was Mom's poppy seed cake wrapped in tinfoil.  Aunt Daisy grabbed plates and forks and we all tucked into the marvels of Polish baking.  Despite the gloomy surroundings Aunt Daisy shined.  She had a rosy disposition (unlike her nephew).  She filled that impoverished room with far more cheer than our more middling apartment mustered.

They had a lopsided fresh-cut scrub pine tree, wedged in a bucket, festooned with old-fashioned ornaments:  strung popcorn, some hand-cut tin stars, made with tinsnips from the lions of Lyle’s Golden Syrup tins.  Nestled underneath the tree were several presents wrapped in newspaper...no tape, a little string, the edges neatly folded and tucked under so they were securely wrapped.  Penciled in a corner was the recipient’s name.

The newspaper gift wrap was shocking to my more pampered eyes.  I’d never seen a present wrapped in anything but wrapping paper.  I’ve no recollection what Aunt Daisy gave us.  That recycled newsprint was my memory gift.

I haven’t bought wrapping paper since 2003, a very expensive year for us.  The hidden gift of that hard year, like the visit to Aunt Daisy’s, was a reawakening of more simple values.  I’m ever on the lookout now for clever ways to make cost-free wrapping paper, for I’m a keen devotee of lovely wrappings.  Here's my contribution to the genre:
                                 
          A Newspaper Bow

Step 1 & 2

Step 3

1. Select 2 sheets of funny pages for a slimmer bow, 3 for a fuller one.

2. Fold newspaper in half lengthwise. Fold long-side raw edge 1 1/2 inches.




3. Cut folded edge JUST to the fold, about every 5/8’s of an inch, being careful to keep funny page folds neatly aligned.

Also take care not to cut all the way
across page.  The fold on the left is the anchor for the bow.

Step 4

4. Now roll up your long folded & cut newspaper jelly roll-style, using small pieces of tape sparingly to secure roll when needed. Take care to keep roll neat at the bottom

Step 5

 

Step 6

5. Slip in a 6-10 inch piece of folded twine at the beginning of the rolling process and near the middle so you can tie bow to gift.










6. When you finish rolling up the newspaper secure the end with tape.


7. Now fan out each snipped section (2 or 3 layers depending on what you selected).  This will fill out your bow and give it volume.

Attach to present wrapped in a really gray news page for contrast, or if you’re in a particularly funny mood, the stock report date page of the Wall Street Journal.
Lightly mist with a strong hair spray to maintain loft, if desired.
(Altho I didn't have enough college credits in journalism to declare it my minor it was an emphasis, after English, so yet another use for day old papers!