A few years back I inadvertently started a new game/tradition between my sister and I.

Whenever we get each other a Christmas/Birthday gift, we wrap it in odd ways.

For example, last year I wrapped her birthday gift entirely in parcel tape. It took her 20 minutes and a pair of industrial-strength scissors to open it.
The same year my gift from her was wrapped in brown parcel paper, complete with string bow.
(I also accidentally wrapped my mothers' gift in "Happy Birthday!" paper, inspired by the superb Demitri Martin, I wrote "Jesus" under it.)

It doesn't sound like much but to innocent bystanders we look very weird and very cheap. But the game is well under-way and both of us refuse to return to normal shiny/festive wrapping paper for the other. That would mean losing.


My sister has just been to visit and dropped off this:

That's right, my gift (Uncharted 2 for the PlayStation3) is wrapped in a napkin with a smiley face drawn on it.

I now have to plan ahead to Christmas and decide what to wrap her present in that's one step below a napkin.

I'm thinking either a toilet roll (complete with cardboard tube attached) or clingfilm.

(But does it still count as "wrapped" if you can see what's inside?)

And here's a picture of a car that's been cling'd



Suggestions welcome!

I can say from experience that enough layers of cling and you'll have the job done (Halloween party... girls wearing film bikinis... god damn the laws of refraction!) Toilet paper would probably be tough to wrap/keep wrapped. Depending on what you get her you could always put it in some (wildly inappropriate) used packaging - a cornflakes box or an empty tub of hair gel etc.

Awesome game though. I often wrap my pressies in newspaper, but that's just cos I'm a cheapskate (and when times are hard, the pressie IS the newspaper).

At the moment clingfilm is looking like the winner. I may the experiment a little bit further and see if it's possible to enclose the gift (which hasn't even been purchased yet!) in something food-like or edible.

Like a sausage roll or a fajitas.

I hope she's got good dental insurance.