Give me a second. I need to recover from asking such a silly question: Is sloppy work ever okay? My answer to this question remains a firm “No.” Yet, I must share something I recently learned that could entice a bit of seasonal sloppiness if you are so inclined.
A recent series of experiments have shown that sloppy gift-wrapping may have benefits! In one experiment, 180 same-size boxes, each containing a coffee mug, were wrapped for gift giving. Half of the boxes were neatly wrapped with perfect folds and carefully tied ribbons and bows. The other half were wrapped haphazardly. The folks who received the sloppily-wrapped packages liked their gifts significantly more than the folks who unwrapped beautifully-adorned boxes. Presumably the expectations for the sloppily-wrapped gifts were low, so the coffee mugs were a pleasant surprise. The expectations for the carefully-wrapped boxes were higher, thus the coffee mugs were a disappointment. A similar second experiment involved pairs of earbuds. The results of this experiment mirrored that of the coffee cup gifts.
So, what does this mean for you? You’ll have to tell me. Do you think anyone in your family or circle of friends judges a package by its wrapping? I totally enjoy gift-wrapping. If I tested out this strategy on my friends I feel certain they would be more concerned about my well-being than the perceived value of their gifts. But then again, maybe not. Maybe I should give it a try!
I’m eager to hear your thoughts and I’m curious how you feel about gift-wrapping too.
Does gift-wrapping fuel your creativity or
put you in a funk?
I need more tape!
Diane
Gift wrapping overwhelms me. The best wrapped gifts are the ones I wrap early. The closer to Christmas it gets and the more pressure on
Me the sloppier my wrapping gets sadly. I think most people just take pleasure in being thought of
My daughter is an amazing gift wrapper and everyone LOVES her packages!
Me, I get so creative with gift wrapping and do wonders with embellishments, etc.
I don’t think it matters to my family how nice the gift wrapping job is. I envy those that can do a beautiful job gift wrapping, but I prefer to use gift bags for awkward to wrap gifts.
My daughter tells me she likes to unwrap a gift and a gift bag is unable to unwrap. I have higher expectations of beautiful wrapping jobs. So, at least for me the theory is true!
I learned to gift wrap Fanny May candy at my first job when I was 14 years old. I even learned how to make perfect bows with a bow machine. I enjoy wrapping gifts.
I absolutely abhor wrapping gifts. I can do a decent job if I take my time and really try, but I rarely care to put in that much effort, so my husband is our household’s designated gift wrapper. I do shine in the area of gift tags because of my super-neat teacher handwriting, though. We all have our strengths. 😉