Rubber Band Ball Gift wrap

This sort of gift wrap takes a good deal of time, but for a small gift experience that you don't want to be over in 30 seconds, this can be a fun idea.

One year, I bought my brother a dukes of hazard leather-encased Zippo-type lighter. But it was so small, I could have inserted it into a mini-loaf of bread(as long as its white). I dedided not to, and multiple layers of boxes and newspapers, only stays fun for so long before it gets old, though we've used that trick as well.

So, I bought a $4 or $5 rubberband ball from Meijer and a small storage tote, with a lid and proceeded to wrap the lighter in wrapping paper first. This serves two purposes...one it protects the lighter itself from the rubberband wear and tear, and two it gives another layer of gift wrap to get through. Then I proceeded to take some time, moving each rubberband off the rubberband ball and onto the wrapped lighter. If I recall correctly, this took about 45 minutes.

Note: if you have a young girl and you are getting her girly stuff, like nail polish or earrings, you can use pony tail holders for a similar effect. Be careful not to make the pony tail band ball too big or you will over stretch them.

So, we now have a gift wrapped in a larger rubberband ball and an empty small stuff tote to put it in. Of course I added some sort of raffia paper or filler to the tote. Then I wrapped the tote and placed it into a box, which I wrapped again. After placing it in one final box, adding wadded up newspaper to fill it, I once again wrapped that box and set it aside until time to present the gift. I think this may have been a birthday gift, but many of them blend together somewhat over the years;-).

My brother went through the work of opening it through out the layers and got done to the rubber band ball. I may have stopped him before he bounced it, and let him know that he wasn't done. It did take a long time for him to remove each and every one of the rubber bands, which he set in the tote. While he took off each rubber band he muttered about it, and told me the rubber band ball would have been a pretty cool gift in itself. I suggested he would just have to reconstruct the one I had given him.

As I type this one out I'm reminded of the scavenger hunt I tried to send him on one year...This one needs to be done very carefully, or in summer when it is warm.

However, next, I will probably review the mop bucket series and some of my brother's ploys at gift wrap.