Foraged Fir Tip Tea and A Gift Wrapping Guide

I’ve been working on this post for a long time, and am so excited to be able to share this wintery forest venture with you guys today! I wish I could have gotten it up sooner for those of you interested in DIY Christmas gifts, but hopefully this is helpful for some last-minute gift makers and for folks planning ahead for next year’s holiday season. Back in the fall Jeremy and I went into the woods to our mushroom-foraging spot, but I wasn’t looking for any fungi. Instead I went to get some foraged bright green douglas fir tips for tea-making. Yes, they along with spruce and hemlock, can make for a fine herbal tea. The flavor tastes pretty much how the tree smells, so as you can imagine it’s incredibly bright and refreshing.

 

{ Gifts as Wrapping } Things like linen kitchen towels or knitted sweaters or scarves can make beautiful gifts, and be used as wrapping, too. If you happen to have a knack for knitting, you can even make small lap blankets that are great for the winter and the perfect shape for wrapping boxes.{ Use Greenery } You don’t have to have a green thumb or spend a lot of money at the florist for this. Poke around your yard and see what’s out there, anything green will add an attractive touch to your gift. If you don’t have a yard, just walk around your neighborhood and see what you find. A clipping from a little evergreen shrub or even an interesting-shaped dead twig can add a nice touch to your wrapping situation. You can tie them in the knot, or tuck them under any tied string or yarn around the package. A poinsettia leaf pressed flat against the top of a box with string tied over it makes for a beautiful and festive pop of color, just be careful, though, as they are poisonous to children and animals.

{ Tying the Knot } Good ol’ gardening twine adds a nice and rustic touch to the wrapping situation.  And then woolen yarn has tons of possibilities; there’s silk and wool blends that have a great sheen to them and are wonderfully fuzzy, there’s thick fluffy yarns, and thin stringy ones, and they’re all in all the colors you could imagine. You can also use a string of fake pearls to tie up the gift if you want it to look extra-fancy (little girls love this, since they can then use it as a toy necklace). And don’t be afraid to wrap that string around the box a bunch of times, having extra string adds more texture and you can even get creative with the pattern and wind it all around the box, giving it a star-like quality. Something like a shimmery gold thread wrapped over a cream package would look especially nice with that pattern.

{ Color Scheme } You can make a really big statement wrapping all your gifts in the same bright color, but with varying shades of the same one. Picture a bunch of blue boxes and gift bags all under a tree, but with varying dark and light shades of blue. You can also go the neutral route with nice creams and whites, which pair really well with an evergreen clipping garnish. And don’t underestimate the power of kraft paper. This brown paper has a fun old world vibe to it (‘brown paper packages tied up with strings’ = YAAAAAAAY Christmas!!) and makes for a great canvas for brighter garnishes like red winter berries.

{Use Your Skills } If you have a craft or artistic ability, use it in your wrapping. If you paint, paint your own design onto the kraft paper you wrap the gifts with. If you whittle, whittle a little spoon or butter knife and tie it onto the package. If you can sew, make a fabric wrapping ‘paper’ that can be folded around a box like traditional wrapping paper but adheres shut with buttons rather than tape, so that way your recipient can re-use it when they give a gift down the line. If you bake, make some cinnamon dough ornaments and tie them onto the outside of the package. Just have a little think about what you do best that can add a personal touch to your holiday gifts.