Comments on: The Simple Dollar Morning Roundup: Gift Bag Edition

By: Danielle

Danielle — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:19:48 +0000

If I had to buy a gift bag, I would buy it at the dollar store. Good variety of prices, okay selection of themes. If it’s for a baby gift, I’m probably set for the next decade… I keep every gift bag we get and we got tons for our wedding a few years back and for our baby shower.

I also buy seasonal wrapping paper after the season is over… but only after it hits 90% off. I especially like to stock up on anything that isn’t too specific of a theme so that it can be used for anything.

By: Lazy Man and Money

Lazy Man and Money — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 17:19:08 +0000

It take me a half hour to wrap a gift despite years of practice… And it always looks terrible. I re-use gift bags and buy them cheaply after holidays. When done that way, I believe gift bags can be great. And yes, I’m too Lazy to wrap them myself. :-)

By: rhonda hubert

rhonda hubert — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 07:42:21 +0000

Interesting comments about children eating McDonalds. We only ever allowed our children to eat takeaway when we were travelling and they would choose Maccas (as it is referred to in Aust)
They are now in their late teens, early twenties and would not eat there out of choice. It was the hype of “oh, aren’t we lucky to eat at McDonalds just like you see on TV!” that they bought into. They came to realise that they didn’t like the food!!!

By: Andre Kibbe

Andre Kibbe — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 21:53:07 +0000

Guess I don't need to add to the comments about reusing gift bags, especially fabric ones like those sold by Lucky Crow. Seeing gift wrap torn open in a split second to become landfill is less tolerable, IMO -- almost as wasteful as drinking straws.

By: Sara

Sara — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 16:49:10 +0000

I actually like gift bags – particularly the fact that they’re reusable. (As the 30 or so people above me have already said.) Sure, ripping off wrapping paper is really fun, but it’s SUCH a waste.

/rant

New rant: How about greeting cards? If you don’t buy them buy the box, it’s $3.50 for a card. I’ve decided to stop giving them to people (except my mom, and only twice a year – Mother’s Day and her birthday). In April of this year, I spent $15 on 4 birthday cards because I had friends with birthdays every week that month. I’ve read some people just don’t sign cards so they can be reused, but really, that just seems tacky to me. Or they make “postcards” out of ones with pretty pictures on the front, but what if whoever gave it to you was rather verbose in their greetings?

By: kath

kath — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 14:58:05 +0000

Two words- Dollar Store. I buy them there and reuse the bags we get gifts in, so I really don’t need to buy them too often.

By: db

db — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 14:57:44 +0000

Maybe we should just stop giving so many gifts.

I’m only partly serious. I love getting a good gift. And I prefer it be wrapped, not in a bag, but I don’t get torqued up about it.

At the same time, there is such insanity around gifts sometimes. Why is it expected that kids will be scarred for life if they don’t get lavish birthday parties with tons of gifts (wrapped or in a bag), most of which will be cheap, tacky crapola toys they really don’t need? Ditto for Christmas.

It seems to me if gift giving was on a smaller scale, and saved for the people who really mean the most to us, it would be a better thing for all of us. Then maybe we’d wrap more thoughtfully too.

By: Becky

Becky — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 14:06:36 +0000

I always get comments on the gift bags I buy at the Dollar Tree. They have some fabulous ones! I’m a terrible wrapper so gift bags are the only way to go for me. I also recycle bags I get so I don’t have to buy them too often.

By: Jasmine

Jasmine — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 04:51:39 +0000

Gift bags are 2 for a dollar at my local dollar store.

I get cards from there too or buy a pack of pretty blank cards with a design and use those for most of my cards. Those are 2-3 dollars for 10 cards, way cheaper than purchasing them individually. Cards are a huge ripoff these days.

By: Lynn

Lynn — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 03:17:16 +0000

KJC, thanks for the heads up on papermart.com! Wow! Paperbags are the way to go for us as well. I hate wrapping with a passion lol. The exception is Christmas where I suck it up and wrap. Bags are cheap if not free when you recycle them.

Btw, another site is http://www.orientaltrading.com where you can buy bags, etc CHEAP.

By: Shevy

Shevy — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 00:00:01 +0000

Sorry Trent, but I think you’re way off base with this one! IMHO nothing says “I don’t care” like a gift in a brown paper bag, even if the gift itself is expensive.

Newspaper gets people’s clothes and hands dirty and leaves toxic ink on the surface of whatever you wrap in it. I don’t use it to wrap dishes when I move, so I certainly don’t use it on gifts to people I love!

I think gift bags are great! I generally buy a package of them each year as part of a local private school’s fundraiser. I pay maybe $10 for 4 to 6 bags with co-ordinated tissue. I reuse bags I’m given (like all the other posters) and buy them in dollar stores if I run out or need an unusual size or whatever.

A beautifully wrapped gift is attractive and shows that you put a lot of thought into the present but the paper is shredded in seconds and just ends up in the garbage. With a gift bag you can have the same great look but without wasting the materials. A far more efficient use of money I think.

By: MVP

MVP — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 23:33:51 +0000

I was shocked at my 3-year-old niece’s birthday party last summer when she didn’t receive a single wrapped gift (except from us). ALL of them came in gift bags – some were ridiculously huge. I mean, really people! Robbing a 3-year-old of the joy of ripping open a gift?! Not to mention, how lazy can you be that you can’t even take the time to wrap a gift?!

By: M. Smith

M. Smith — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 21:47:53 +0000

I got a chuckle out of your gift bag rant. Around here, and apparently like everyone else who reads your blog, we buy ours at the dollar store and they’re recycled from party to party – especially the kid birthday parties (my kids also make & color birthday cards for their friends – heck if I’ll pay even a $1 for something a kid won’t even read!).

You know which kind of bag I find truly annoying? The children’s birthday party bag – that little bag full of cheap, tiny, plastic c*ap that kids could care less about and parents have pick up off the floor and throw in the trash. I wish there was a law against those bags!

KJC, thanks for mentioning papermart.com – I also make many cookies and other baked items as xmas gifts. I’ll be checking them out!

By: Kat

Kat — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 20:41:33 +0000

The best part about gift bags and reusing them is the fact that you are reducing your footprint in the landfill.

Occasionally I will wrap presents, but I use old prints of drawings from work. Makes my presents stand out under the tree.

By: ZenniHill

ZenniHill — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 20:22:27 +0000

I also enjoy re-using gift bags, and recently found a bag that I just had to buy. It was a re-useable paper gift bag with many lines on it (for lots of re-using) so that you can fill in who it is for, who it is from and the event of the gift. I thought it would be fun to use in the family for sentimental purposes.

By: paidtwice

paidtwice — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:43:39 +0000

Gift bags – reusable. I have a big stash.

just like every other commenter I guess :)

By: Christine

Christine — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:27:56 +0000

Same here! Back home I have a stack of giftbags I have received, to be used again.

A while ago I crashed at a friend’s house for fall break, and got his mom a thank you box of chocolates. I ended up not buying a bag, but instead pinched a piece of clean, used tin foil from the dinner table to wrap it in!

By: Ann

Ann — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 18:42:01 +0000

Ha! Like Katy Raymond, re-using gift bags at Christmas is part of the fun in our house. It’s gotten to the point where some of these bags have been around for years and have sentimental value. Sometimes we keep and re-use the gift tags too. My mom gets a kick out of using tags written by us “kids” when we were much younger.

By: Katy Raymond

Katy Raymond — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 18:07:58 +0000

There’s NEVER a reason to spend more than $1 on a gift bag, even an enormous one, if you have Dealz or Everything’s $1 stores. So, $1 is my high bid. Sometimes, though, I get lucky, like finding a great sidewalk sale with a cardboard box full of gift bags. The whole box for $5, and it had around 50 bags in it. These are ALWAYS recycled in our large family, and become part of the holiday fun in and of themselves. (”I remember that bag from 1999. Look, here’s Scotty’s name crossed out and mine in his place…”) Tacky, but entertaining and economical. :)

By: m

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 17:46:32 +0000

I love gift wrapping (and I include gift bags in that category) and see nothing wrong with wanting the gift you present something with to be attractive and cheery looking. If it costs four dollars to do that then so be it. How many little pieces of crap do we waste a few dollars on here or ther ein life? I’d rather skip those purchases and make sure a gift I give looks pleasant and makes the reciever feel excited and happy to see what’s inside.

Some gifts aren’t conducive to wrapping; their odd shape may be better suited to a bag. Others simply like gifts bags. I love the look of a bunch of bags tied with a cute bow and gift card waiting there for friends to find theirs and take their gift home after an event or party.

And gift bags are available as low as 79 cents where I live, which is the SF Bay Area, which is really not very expensive, and can be cheaper than some wrapping paper.

I feel like I’m some weird gift bag defender after writing this much on the topic, but it hit a nerve I guess. I love giving gifts and wrapping and bags are all part of the process. Brown bag and newspaper can work too; the key is just to make it looks nice and show your affection for the person through your efforts and to make the outside look just as good as what’s inside!

Just my two cents.