Brown paper is one of the most versatile packaging supplies out there, if not the most versatile. From wrapping presents for a birthday party to sending off home-made crafts and trinkets, it can come across clean, strong, fun or serious. Until I discovered the potential of brown paper I was a “newspaper” kind of gal. Don’t get me wrong, newspaper is still in my top five list of packaging supplies, but it absolutely has a different feel from brown paper.
When I get a box in the mail and they’ve used yards and yards of brown paper as cushion, I take the strip and tape it to the bottom half of the wall and let the kids draw on it and sticker it and finger paint at will. I love having my own, custom design mural. I usually leave it hanging for a couple months, and by then its about time to start all over again!
Brown paper makes for a really classy bouquet paper. Some deep burgundy marigolds, some dark green ferns, some white roses: accent them all with the brown paper and it looks just great. Not to mention you can write a little personalized note directly on them. Or a delicate spring colored bundle, with light purples and blushes and bright greens, wrapped in the brown paper and tied with a string. It’s like going back in time.
Gift wrapping: brown paper makes the best gift paper. Hands down, without a doubt. You can literally anything with it. Need to wrap something for a pre-teen girl? Sweet. Wrap it in brown paper, and then accent it with some brightly colored and designed ribbon. Need to wrap something for a little boy for Christmas? Great. Draw a car on the side and tape a little tree to the top so it looks like a car is driving home from the tree farm.
Finally, my favorite thing to do with brown paper is this: I hang a fat roll of butcher paper up in the dining room, which is more or less connected to the kitchen, and this is where I write the weekly menu and any other important tidbits (Johnny, don’t forget to drop the library books of. Or, Mary, please fold the laundry.) When that week has passed we just rip off the sheet and pull down another one. We have had family games of tic tac toe and hangman going for weeks.