by Kimberly Chitwood

Created on: December 12, 2008

There's common sense, and then there's common cents. You need both to survive the Christmas holiday season. You need common sense to determine what you can/cannot handle in the way of decorations, the tree, gifts, the food, etc. If you charge everything on your credit card, but you can't pay it back, then it's probably a good idea not to do that. If you're on a set budget, it's a good idea to make a list of the things (including their cost) that you "have" to have to make your holiday experience complete. Wrapping paper is one of them. You don't HAVE to use wrapping paper. However, the whole idea of wrapping a gift carries with it the element of surprise for the one receiving the gift.

We all buy gifts for everyone on our list, some expensive and some inexpensive. Here's where your common cents come in. One thing that doesn't have to be expensive is the wrapping paper. So, here are great ideas for saving yourself some money on Christmas wrapping paper.

USE NEWSPAPER

We all have accessible to some newspaper, no matter where we are. Chances are that most of us also buy a newspaper from a newsstand/store, or we have one delivered to our homes. Therefore, newspaper material is readily available. This cuts on the cost of wrapping paper because you're not buying wrapping paper! This is the best idea, and you can take it and run with it. You can paint newspaper, if you think newspaper print is gaudy and tacky. You can also wrap strands of cheap ribbon around the newspaper-wrapped gift to cover up some of the print.

USE TISSUE PAPER

Tissue paper sometimes isn't quite as durable as wrapping paper. However, if you buy a $1 package of tissue paper, you can use two sheets of tissue paper for one gift. You end up being to wrap 5-6 gifts for just a $1. And, again, you're not buying wrapping paper at all.

DESIGNER WRAPPING PAPER VS GENERIC WRAPPING PAPER

First, let's distinguish between designer and generic. Designer wrapping paper costs more because it has more complicated, intricate, popular designs on it. Examples are Disney characters, artwork, etc. Generic wrapping paper may/may not cost more, depending on the design. Examples are seasonal paper with simple designs, solid-colored paper, and worded paper ("Merry Christmas!", "Happy Holidays"). Since we're trying to save money and since almost all of the wrapping paper that we use to wrap gifts is thrown away after the gift is opened, it stands to reason that it's just not worth the extra money we spend on expensive designs that

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