Wrapping Gifts in Snow

I had always wanted to wrap my Christmas gifts in snow but had to wait for the perfect conditions to be present to pull this off. Then one year I had it. A day before Christmas Eve we got dumped with a good 6 inches of snow and the temperature promised to hold at just under 32 degrees for the week.

HOW TO WRAP GIFTS IN SNOW:

1. MAKE SURE CONDITIONS ARE RIGHT FOR PACKING SNOW

Obviously you will need packing snow which occurs at just under 32 degrees and you will need to check the forecast to makes sure that temp will not get warmer before you present your snow wrapped gifts. A melted soggy snow gift is not very fun.

2. DETERMINE WHICH GIFTS ARE SAFE TO WRAP

Once you know you have plenty of good packing snow and it's safe to do this, lay out all your gifts and determine which ones are safe to wrap in snow without getting damaged. Most of my gifts were water proof like bottles of wine, jars of specialty jams, a puzzle in a tin, nail polish doesn't freeze apparently. My largest gift was a popcorn maker but I didn't care if that box got wet as it was pretty sturdy and it wouldn't damage the product. I had one sweater as a gift which I put in a gift box which I wrapped in plastic wrap before covering in snow. If your gift is not water proof, try wrapping it in plastic wrap or a plastic bag to protect. If the gift is delicate and FRAGILE you obviously will not want to wrap it in snow.

3. GATHER YOUR SNOW MOLDS

Once your gifts are laid out, find large containers to act as molds for your snow gifts and determine which mold would work for which gift size wise. Plastic storage bins, tupperware, plastic bowls, boxes, pots, cake tins and mugs all make great molds.

4. GET IT ALL ORGANIZED

Get your bows and tags ready. Thick red yarn is the best as it sticks to the snow. Group your bows with your gift and it's container and set aside in garage or basement, anywhere away from where your family might find. Have your shovel handy.

5. WRAPPING TIME!

Once I had everything organized, I set my alarm to wake me up EARLY Christmas morning to assemble everything. I think I woke up about 5am and it took me 1-2hrs tops to wrap everything. To wrap a gift, fill your container mold half full of snow, place gift in middle then fill up mold with snow. Press down on mold to pack it. Carry mold over to area you wish to display your snow gifts (I set mine up on the front porch but front or back yards work just as well ofcourse). Carefully flip you gift over and allow the packed snow gift to slide out. Then decorate with bow and tag immediately so you don't forget which gift it is. Continue this will all your gifts.

When done, go inside and make yourself a nice cup of hot cocoa and go back to sleep. The squeals from your family as they wake up to this surprise will wake you.

6. OPENING GIFTS

That is for everyone to figure out on their own lol. But its not hard. Put your boots on and kick them open like we did.

My family loved seeing the snow gifts on the porch so much they didn't want to open them right away. It wasn't till evening came around that they decided to finally open them.