Don’t Forget to Wrap Your Holiday Gifts in Furoshiki!

If you’re a regular reader of our blog, you already know that we love furoshiki – the Japanese art of wrapping in cloth. Now that the holidays are upon us, we’ve started wrapping our gifts up – in furoshiki of course. What we love about furoshiki is that the object actually determines the type of wrap you use. Giving two bottles of wine to your boss? Then wrap them in the two-bottle wrap. A Twilight poster to your niece? That will wrap up nicely in the cylindrical wrap. And don’t forget those gift cards. We like putting them in empty Altoids containers and then wrapping them up in the two-book wrap. Here’s a little sample of our holiday furoshiki:

The red and white polka dotted wrap is actually a vintage scarf. Vintage scarves make the perfect furoshiki, especially for those of you who don’t sew or have a fabric stash the size of Connecticut in your house.  Why go through all this trouble, you may ask? Well, it’s no trouble at all. The wraps are very easy to make, you don’t have to mess with ribbon, and you’ll save lots of trees! Just fold up the fabric when you’re done and save it for another occasion. You can find instructions and more ideas in our book, Furoshiki Fabric Wraps: Simple, Reusable, Beautiful. Click here to check it out at amazon.com. The book makes a great gift, too! BTW, the photo above shows some tasty wrapped wines from Deb’s favorite winery, Artesa, a wrapped box of See’s chocolates* (a West Coast tradition), and our new found favorite olive oils and vinegars** from Sutter Buttes Olive Oil Co.

*Kris loves the dark chocolate and coconut.
**Deb’s favorites are the blood orange olive oil and the peach vinegar–drizzle them over a salad to remind you of summer.