Furoshiki gift wrapping tutorial
When I grew up opening presents was a special, and almost sacred, part of any gifting. Be it birthdays or Christmas. We took turns giving our gift to our loved ones and we took turns opening each one. Even as young kids we didn’t rip open everything in a giant rush or mess. Wrapping paper was re-used year after year. If we used sticky tape (rarely) then we’d ever so gently remove it, smooth then fold the paper for the next gift giving.
Sometimes we used fabric or brown paper bags, as well as the extra special wrapping paper. None of the mass-produced papers in our home. When we had to buy new wrapping paper it was always something special, an artwork in itself.
I still have a box that was a gift one year, with the lid wrapped in some paper that had been used for previous years. This makes me so happy when I look at it each day, to remember those special moments of sitting with my family and opening gift one by one.
On Christmas morning we’d make breakfast - a giant bowl of fruit salad. Mangoes, watermelon, peaches, nectarines (remember, I live in Australia so Christmas is in Summer). And then croissants with butter and jam. Coffee for my parents. I’m sure I forget the years when we were eager to open gifts, but in my memory we gathered around the little tree (always in a pot to go back into the garden afterwards), spread out on the floor, sharing our meal and our gifting.
With these memories of the wrapping and un-wrapping being as special as the gift itself, I wanted to share a simple way that you might like to wrap your gifts this year.
While the memories are such as important and special part of it, the environmental aspect is just as important. To my family then, as it is today.
Furoshiki is perhaps one of the best ways to wrap a gift. You can use special fabric, scarves (look at op-shops and second hand shops for some of the wonderful often overlooked ones), tea towels or vintage linens, hand painted or botanically dyed fabric or silk scarves. I know that you have something to use…..
The wrapping can become part of the gift - a tea towel - or it become a special extra with it.
I suggest printing out and adding a ‘how-to’ Furoshiki wrapping sheet. You can download this one from the Japanese government here. (Can you even begin to imagine the Australian government having something on their offical website!!). Including the instructions allows people who have never thought about (or even heard about) Furoshiki.
I believe that educating others on simple yet special things like this is wonderful. While I know that our small actions really aren’t that much in terms of overall environmental change, but I believe that a ripple effect can happen and make slow small change.
One of my favourite quotes is by Margaret Mead: ‘Never doubt that a small group of committed individuals can make a difference; indeed they are the only ones who ever have’.
