Ribbon Alternatives

The other day I was asked to participate in a virtual holiday party for one of my favorite sites: Momprenuers Online.  It was a blast, and whole new experience for me (It was a Twitter Party--and I hadn't done a whole lot of tweeting up to that point!) Anyway, one of the things I talked about at the party was last minute gift (and gift wrapping) ideas, including some of my favorite ribbon alternatives:

1.  CANDY:  

Gifts wrapped with licorice laces or extra long candy necklaces are too yummy to refuse.  And so are packages topped with these beautiful handmade candy canes from Hammond's Candies (a 90-year old candy company in Denver, Colorado...my home town!)

2.  SEAM BINDING:

This is not a new idea...Martha's  been doing it for years, and Remodelista mentioned it on their site the other day.  I love using seam binding and other sewing notions, like rick-rack, lace trim, even bias tape, to wrap presents.

3.  BAKER'S TWINE:

 Nice Package has a great assortment of wrapping goodies, including several colors of baker's twine.

4.  JAPANESE MASKING TAPE:

How cool is this stuff???  You can find these tapes and lots of other beauties at Happytape.

5.  GIANT RUBBER BANDS:

You'll find a ton of uses for these extra-large rubber bands which I got at Staples.   These things are addictive, and can be turned into fun "ribbons" and "bows".

 

6.  ZIPPERS!

My favorite idea of all!  I saw these cute packages in Amelia Versaci's etsy shop.  Her fabulous zipper jewelry  comes wrapped in boxes tied with zipper tape from vintage nylon zippers.  HOW CUTE!