Wrapping

I really believe in the need for beautiful presentation of gifts. Inventive, and surprising even. We have a wonderful new tradition going of non-store-bought wrapping for each holiday season (new because our tiny nuclear family has introduced it to our extended family). Sometimes it's been combined with the even more delightful old tradition of clues that each recipient must solve in order to guess what the present is before opening it (old because it has existed in my husband's family since his childhood). One year we bought tiny finger puppets from Ikea, and made each the star of a construction paper tableau on each gift - the tableau and an accompanying poem were also the clue. This year the wrapping is made of magazine strips glued to the outside of boxes.

Here is one of this year's clues (for a baseball-themed tshirt from the photomicrograph series I'll post about later):

Part I:

My beaker exploded in period three
The chemicals landed all over me
Forced to stand under the old safety shower
I was mocked and abused for over an hour
I had to go to my “happy place”
Because in chem. class I added acid to _______

Part II:

My fairy godmother cast a wonderful spell:
Instead of a carriage, a car faster than hell
Off to meet with the king’s son I go
In a sleek Maserati the color of snow!
But a manual transmission means stall after stall
How on earth will I make it in time for the _______

Get it? Base + ball!

(I love this wrapping so much I've submitted it to the Whiplash competition this month. Eek!)