Blue gift-wrapped presents sit in a French country white pedestal urn at the end of the stone fireplace in my country home. Presents do not have to sit under the tree awaiting Christmas Day to be opened. No, presents can sit in a beautiful white urn with garland decor and be part of your holiday decorations.
Blue and white Christmas decor includes gift-wrapped packages on display. Using gift wrap paper and bags is an easy, inexpensive way to add a splash of your favorite color to your Christmas decor.
Collect over years, and save to re-use time and time again. My family all know to save their wrappings and hand them back to me if they don't want to keep them. A little eye rolling on occasion, but good-naturedly.
Or, gift the presents without saving the wrappings, and collect different colored bags and paper for next year's Christmas decorations. This is an easy way to change your whole color scheme for Christmas from one year to the next.
F R E N C H C O U N T R Y
B L U E C H R I S T M A S P R E S E N T S
Display Christmas presents prominently on a chest of drawers to make them part of your Christmas decorations. To give my presents French country style, I chose a large pedestal white urn with a garland design. To protect the wood top of the chest, the urn sits on top of a clear, repurposed microwave oven glass turn table.
TIP: Need to replace a worn-out microwave? Save the glass turn table from the old microwave to use under large flower pots to protect wood table tops and floors. Or, watch for large glass platters at garage sales, estate sales, flea markets, thrift stores, ...
French country not your style? Use a large container that fits your home's decor style. Rattan baskets, large dough bowls, rustic wooden boxes, wire baskets, large stoneware bowls, etc... all can hold Christmas packages.
Save empty stationery boxes that once held Christmas cards or personal writing paper. Christmas candy often comes in beautifully decorated boxes suitable to repurpose as a gift box. The snowman box held Christmas cards and is one of my all-time favorite designs with a blue Christmas scene.
A multi-toned blue ribbon holds a preserved boxwood wreath on the print above the Christmas boxes. The wreath adds greenery of the season and will last well beyond the entire holiday. Preserved boxwood is more expensive than fresh wreaths, but can be used for several years which makes the wreaths cost effective.
TIP: Use an upside down brass cup hook screwed into the back of a frame or a cabinet door to hang a ribbon holding a wreath.
Add more presents as you get them "wrapped" for Christmas. The Santa box was added after the blue Christmas presents collection in an urn was begun.
The Santa box is another box that once held Christmas cards.
Tall wine bottle gift bags can be used for gifts other than wine. When Christmas boxes and bags are arranged for display, various shapes make the overall arrangement prettier than using the same shape and size boxes and bags.
TIP: Watch for beautiful gift paper and bags all during the year, not just at Christmas time. The blue and white wine gift bag pattern is not specifically Christmas themed, but is beautiful with the blue Christmas designs.
Use boxes as risers on which to place other packages so they can be seen behind shorter packages.
One advantage of using some bags outside the French country urn is the bags hide unsightly wall plugs.
Angle packages so the display is beautiful from any view.
Add package embellishments to the side of a gift bag that will be visible when behind other gifts.
Smaller boxes placed at the front of the French country urn allow more of a box or bag behind the small box to be seen and also allow special package embellishments, like the white star, to be visible.
Re-using gift bags and boxes saves money and is environmentally friendly. Why not enjoy beautiful packaging several years?
French country style in a white pedestal urn filled to overflowing with blue Christmas packages is a great way to blend Christmas decor with my house's existing colors.
Joyeux Noël
The best presents are friends!
Thank you for reading Botanic Bleu.
