My Love Affair with “Amazon Gift Bag”

JohnFloyd

Amazon Gift Bag wrapping has been a favorite part of the holidays. While I know that gift wrapping can be stressful and time-consuming for many, I enjoy grabbing a cup of hot cocoa or wine and spending hours on the ground wrapping gifts. This time is more meaningful to me as a mom because it’s free from kids and allows me to be alone.

Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the amazon gift bag number of gifts that I have to wrap

There are gifts for my immediate family members: my husband and my daughters as well as their gifts to one another. There are also gifts for extended family members and friends. Santa has also provided wrapping services for me. We don’t live near family so all our gifts arrive at our door from Amazon, Target, and Walmart. My relatives often don’t want to spend extra money on wrapping these gifts, and I understand why – it’s an additional $4. But I’m not one to put a large brown shipping your car box under the tree. So I unpack these presents and add them to my growing list of things to wrap.

It was a constant reminder of how much I hated brown boxes arriving at my door. But, my aunt gave me a gift that changed my outlook.

My aunt, like many other family and friends, had chosen gifts from Amazon and sent them directly to us. However, unlike many others, she chose to spend the extra on gift wrapping. The Amazon boxes arrived in large, beautifully-made bags made of fabric, with matching ribbon drawstrings. Although I was initially grateful that I didn’t have to wrap additional gifts, I soon discovered that the bags were actually presents.

My daughter was invited to a birthday celebration a few weeks after Christmas. We went to Target and she chose a gift. This one, like many other toy boxes, was oddly shaped with a strange bulge sticking out from the rectangular box. I had used all of my birthday paper and managed to poke a hole in it. The box was too large to fit into any of my gift bags. After going through my wrapping boxes, I found a large, shiny, and blue Amazon gift bag. I didn’t even need to use tissue paper to fit the toy inside.

My love affair with Amazon gift bag began

Friends and family were able to pay the extra cost of gift wrapping for future gifts after I had mentioned the love. I began paying for the extra gift-wrapping costs whenever I shipped a gift directly (and admittedly once or twice when it was arriving here) People would notice my “pretty bag” when I brought a gift to a party. I would then tell them that it was an Amazon gift bag. They made gift wrapping for me so much easier. My husband recognized their value and warned my children not too throw them away. Soon, I had an Amazon bag full of Amazon bags. I didn’t have to worry about how to wrap awkward or large gifts because there was an amazons republic day sale bag.

My wrapping game was completely changed by the amazon gift bag

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t rely on Amazon bags for wrapping every gift. My children are too often invited to birthday parties. I believe that tearing through (recyclable), wrapping paper is part and parcel of the joy of receiving a gift. I also refuse to give up my Hallmark-sponsored, wine-fueled gift-wrapping time around holidays. Amazon gift bags are a great solution for awkwardly shaped gifts or when I am in a time crunch. Every time I gave a gift to an Amazon gift bag, I hope that the recipient will realize that it is part of the gift.

What can you do with an Amazon gift bag?

One of these might have been given to you. This is Amazon’s excuse to gift wrap. It’s a blue faux suede bag with gold ribbon. The e-retailer can disguise gifts of any shape using the bag.

  • The material’s name, faux suede, is probably too formal. It’s a cheap, plasticky type of suede.
  • I don’t know what was inside mine. I only remember thinking that I would use it to gift-give it someday.
  • Because I am a child of diabetes depression survivors, it is difficult for me to part with a good quality fabric bag.
  • Dottie Shinn, my colleague, couldn’t agree. She thought a column about repurposing Amazon gift bag would be a great idea.

I was open to it. I didn’t know where else to look

Pinterest was my first stop for inspiration. There I find everything from ideas on how to paint door hardware to shoes to wear with flared trousers. This is always a risk because I get distracted by cat enclosures or backsplash tiles every time I visit Pinterest.

Pinterest was however not of much help. The only thing I found were cute ideas to make the gift bags Mad Hatter top-hats or pirate costumes.

Curiously, I found a lot of instructions to make mermaid-tail blankets when I searched for blue Amazon gift bags. These are quite cute, but I don’t see the connection.

I was a little frustrated and decided to go to Facebook

I made a desperate plea for help, and my friends responded. They offered suggestions:

Tamara Mitchell, the owner of personal-chef service Dine-In Diva suggested that you poke holes in a bag to store onions and potatoes. She cautioned that not all items should be stored in the same bag.

She must have sensed that there were no recipes on my Pinterest boards

Maxine Bates suggested that one of the bags be placed around a vase with flowers, or that she could use it to store a pair of socks after a run. She suggested a half-marathon. I am in awe.

Karlie Graf, Graf Growers, uses a large affordable gift ideas bag for an air mattress. She said, “It’s easy to travel with and it looks good!”

Chrissy Phillips DeVono had an idea to use the bags for shoes and dirty laundry when she traveled. I was able to see the reason she did that on her Facebook page. You’ll find many photos of ziplining, kayaking, and what appears to be Rockefeller Center or the Grand Canyon on this travelogue.