So Benjamin’s birthday was… a month ago. And we got him presents. And we wanted to wrap said presents.

But all we could find was Christmas wrapping paper. Neither my husband nor I wanted to go out and buy wrapping paper. My husband reasoned that a one-year-old wouldn’t know the difference and set out to wrap his gifts in red and green.

But I knew the truth. I knew that pictures would be taken. I knew that this one-year-old would one day look at this picture as a twenty-five-year-old and would raise his thick, bushy eyebrows and ask in an incredulous, baritone voice, “Christmas wrapping paper? For my birthday?” And then his fiance would look over his shoulder at the album and would vow to herself she would never be such a failure of a mother as I so obviously was.

So something had to be done.

Noting that the back of the paper was a clean, matte white; brilliance struck. “Wrap it inside out!” I exclaimed.

My husband then raised his thick, bushy eyebrows and asked in an incredulous, baritone voice, “Inside out?

Being a good man, he obeyed.

And we did this:

Decorating Wrapping Paper

(That would be Olivia and Grandma hard at work… Good little slaves… Good…)

Olivia Decorating Wrapping Paper

And the finished product:

Hand Decorated Wrapping Paper

Leap Frog Fridge Phonics – $20
Wooden train set – $10
Hand-made wrapping paper – Priceless.

(I do apologize for the Mastercard thing. I know it’s been overdone. But it was a perfect segue!)

I knew that Christmas wrapping paper can be bought ridiculously cheap after the holidays, but I had never stocked up before. I just might start doing this now…

Anyone else have frugal wrapping paper stories they want to tell?