Wrapping a Gift with Aluminum Foil

Have you ever been in this situation? You suddenly realize that it's your friend's birthday today. Feeling horribly guilty about having almost forgotten it, you call your friend and offer to take her out for lunch. Then, you rush out and buy a gift and a card for her. But when you get home, you notice you don't have any wrapping paper! What do you do?

Some options are to wrap your gift with newspaper, or a paper bag. But if you want your gift to look a little fancier than that, there is a common household item that can be turned into wrapping paper very quickly and easily... and you won't even need to hunt around for some cellophane tape!

Are you dying to find out what it is?

Aluminum foil!

This shiny, durable paper works great in a pinch. All you need to do is tear off a piece large enough to wrap your gift. If your gift is wider than a sheet of foil, simply tear off several pieces of the correct length, and overlap them!

Wrap the foil around the gift. Scrunch the ends of the foil together, to hold the gift in place.

Now, you can give the wrapped gift just the way it is. The shiny foil will look fancy enough on its own. But if you feel like sprucing it up a bit, there are a few things you can do.

You can tie ribbons or stick bows onto the gift. This is an old standby, and you probably have some ribbons or bows around the house that you can use. If you are giving the present to a young girl or a woman, you could also purchase colorful hairbands or "Scrunchies" and wrap them around the gift.

You can also use colorful stickers. This is especially fun for kids' gifts. You can stop at just about any grocery store, drug store, or dollar store, and find a sheet of stickers with a theme that the child in question loves, like a popular cartoon character, for a dollar or less. Place stickers willy-nilly all over the package, to make it look festive!

Another option is to use different colored permanent markers to decorate the package. Even if all you do is scribble on the package or write "Happy Birthday" all over it, the effect of the permanent markers on the silver foil will be festive and unique.

With these tips in mind, you'll never worry about being caught without wrapping paper again!