Lynn's Comments: This is what I do and have always done: I carefully remove wrapping paper from a gift and fold it gently for reuse. I then try to use it as packing material, if possible. I also keep the bows. Good ones I do reuse, especially the ones I make myself. Both my daughter, Katie, and I have a wrapping space in our homes--complete with paper, tape, ribbon and cards. It drives me crazy to see someone scrunching up and discarding a perfectly good bow. I have launched myself across a room to grab a bow before the gift recipient casually crushed it into a ball!
I love gift-wrapping and I prefer to make my own bows. I learned how to do this when I was about 8. Before the introduction of commercially-crafted gift toppers, the making of an attractive bow was an art. At the back of our jewelry store on Lonsdale, we had a gift-wrapping table. My mom did gift wrapping as a courtesy to our customers and she taught me how to make her famous bows. If you'd like to learn how, you can watch my quick video tutorial here.
