This meeting ended up serving three important functions. One, it was the Christmas party, good for socialising and catching up. Two, it was a lesson in wrapping, very useful for those who had not yet tackled their present pile. Three, it was a chance to help others and put to use the toiletry mountain which had been building up in Amy and Ruth’s car boots, homes, sheds etc over the past few months.

Amy started it off with her top tips for wrapping: getting the paper the right size (simple but effective), using double sided tape, thinking where to put creases and openings to keep it looking neat and pretty, keeping the paper taut, having neat edges and a host of others. She transformed a plain box into a thing of beauty.
We were then introduced to the wonders of ribbon to give our parcels some extra oomph and a personal touch. The first technique was wrapping ribbon round a box like string round a parcel but tidily and with a flat bottom! Then came folding the ribbon into loops each slightly shorter than the one before and attaching it to the box to form a separate bow. Variations include wrapping the box with ribbon going at a diagonal and winding ribbon around a book or magazine to form loops which can be styled as a rosette.
Next, we moved on to the delights of wired ribbon. Amy showed us how to use a short section to make a bud by rolling it around your finger and scrunching its base flat to the box. The fabric on a longer ribbon section was ruched down one side and this was then wrapped around the bud. The whole flower was scrunched ( this led to little moans of distress for ruining something so lovely), and secured with wire. Luckily, the oohs and aahs of appreciation returned as the flower is rearranged to look pretty at this point!The final stage of the meeting was to fill shoe boxes with the toiletries which had been collected over the past few months. The boxes would then go to local women’s charities, for example, a refuge. Members had bought in toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, shower gel, moisturiser, shampoo, conditioner, feminine products and gift sets. One member managed to persuade Asda to donate a large quantity of goodies and the Yorkshire Soap Company also made a donation. Ribbon Circus donated the paper in which to wrap the boxes.
Everyone got very creative choosing their wrapping paper and ribbon for decoration and enjoyed picking a good selection of products for their boxes. In the end over 60 beautifully wrapped and decorated boxes were produced, helped along by fizz, tea, chat and a buffet!

Written and posted by Kate-Em