Wrap it up

Last weekend we went to Zachary's first birthday party. Our neighbor's little girl turned one and we were excited to celebrate with her. We went out and bought her a gift and though it would have been easier for me to throw it in a gift bag and call it a day, I took the time to wrap the Mr. Bubble bath crayons. (Umm, can I take a minute to talk about these bath crayons? It's my blog, so the answer is yes. They looked awesome and I totally can't wait until Z is older and he can play with them. I guarantee bath time will be longer because Zachary's mommy will be playing with his toys.) Now, this little girl probably got a lot of help from her parents and older brother when it came time to open her presents, she was only turning one after all. So, I know that perhaps wrapping the gift may have been more time consuming, but as a general rule, I always wrap gifts to kids.

I remember when I was younger and still had birthday parties, the best presents were the ones that were wrapped. You could always tell by the packaging if you were getting a Barbie, a board game (hopefully Mouse Trap or Operation!) or a VHS of a Disney movie, but I loved it. I loved the bows and ribbons that were on the gift - I always saved the really pretty ribbons. I loved the different wrapping paper patterns, especially the shiny ones or the ones that had the little fuzzies on them. And of course, I loved ripping the heck out of them and exposing my gift. The best ones were the oddly shaped boxes. They always had you wondering what could possibly be inside and those were generally the ones I picked first to unwrap. I would of course have some presents that were in bags, but they weren't much of a thrill for me. You pull out the two sheets of tissue paper (colored, if you're lucky) that hide the goods and you're done. No anticipation, no guessing, no fun.

Baby Hank - not a fan **

So I was surprised when we went to the party and people kept coming in the door with gifts for this little girl in bags. I would silently think to myself - "fail." I think now would be a great time to mention that Zachary has not opened any gifts yet so I am not sure how a baby actually does opening gifts. My friend, Ashley's son did not seem too thrilled about his wrapped presents at Christmas last year, so these "Bag People" may be on to something with the wee little babes; however, I continued to secretly judge the lazy wrapping of my fellow party goers because I am clearly an expert if you read between the lines of this post.

Even as a grown up, I will be honest and say I love presents. Personally, it truly is the thought that counts for me. In my mind I think it is sweet that you were thinking about me at a random moment and thought I might like whatever treasure you found. I don't think it's wrong to like getting presents either, especially because of my reasoning for liking gifts. That being said, while I would be elated to find a little gift bag with my name on the tag, I still love wrapped gifts. I still love the oddly shaped wrapped gifts. I still love the the patterned wrapping paper, yes the shiny and fuzzy ones are still my favorite (though now that I am buying them, they are also the more expensive ones). I still love the bows and save the really pretty ones. And I still love to rip them open to see my spoils. Hopefully Baby Hank will this Christmas too.

** Thank you Ashley Schwartz for letting me use this picture of baby Hank. It is hilarious and adorable at the same time!