MERRY VINTAGE CHRISTMAS - PART TWO!

 Today I'm going to wrap up things Christmassy by talking about - yes, that's right, wrapping paper! 

 

Back in my 1970s childhood you bought wrapping paper in sheets, not rolls. It varied in quality from ultra cheap, but nonetheless cheerful to deluxe. The cheaper variety was a bit thinner and more fragile than the more expensive, but the main difference was in the quality of the colour printing which was noticeably inferior.

By the time I was about eight, I was considered old enough to do my own Christmas shopping, and even then I never bought the cheapest.  I can't remember exactly how much it cost but I think the cheap paper was about two pence per sheet and the prices went up to about ten pence per sheet. Any child of the 60s or 70s will probably remember the distinctive smell of that lovely wrapping paper and the crisp feel of the new sheets.

There were no gift bags back then. Wrapping presents was time consuming and almost ritualistic. Presents for friends and acquaintances were wrapped throughout the month of December, but those for family were frequently done on Christmas Eve. In our household, after tea on Christmas Eve, we reitred to our various private spots around the house and many was the shriek of  'Don't come in! I'm wrapping presents!'. 

 One of the great joys of present giving was choosing just the right paper to go with the present and delight the recipient.  If the paper was of the better quality, then favourite papers were carefully removed and saved to be reused the following year. I remember a few favourite papers being reused several times!

Traditional designs were still very much favoured. Santa and snowmen for children, sometimes child angels or cute Bambi style reindeer. For the grown ups there was a vast array of designs to choose from, brightly berried holly, candles, bells, baubles, lanterns, snowy scenes, poinsettia and Christmas roses. 

Once the pressies were wrapped up, then came the fun of decorating them. Foil gift bows, which we called rosettes, were expensive and seldom bought, though if you got a present with one attached, you saved it and reused it for somebody else's gift the following year. 

Instead we decorated our presents with metallic sticky tape which was available in silver, gold, red and green. Sometimes we used tinsel and even a bauble or two. This was a favourite trick of my mother's. 

Another popular gift wrapping trick was to wrap awkward small shapes or bottles like a christmas cracker or sweetie, tying ribbon round each end and cutting the paper in a fringe.

As wrapping paper came in relatively small sheets, the problem of wrapping very large parcels was solved either by using crepe paper, or more often plain old brown paper which was brightened up by being liberally embellished with Christmas stickers or labels as we called them. 

This brings me to the final icing on the cake, the gift tag. These were as carefully chosen as the wrapping paper. We bought them in assorted packs and then shared them out, spending ages gloating over their beautiful designs. For each gift, we tried to pick ones that matched the wrapping paper as closely as possible in design and colour scheme. 

 On Christmas Eve, as the hour grew later and the family concluded their wrapping, the presents began to appear under the tree, until finally the whole family were gathered, usually to watch something festive on television, the lights of the tree and its glorious embellishment of gifts, glowing in the corner. Merry Christmas and 'God bless us all, every one' :)