Branding Gift Packaging

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Gift Wrapping Tips

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Use your imagination when wrapping your gifts.
Use your imagination when wrapping your gifts.
Wrap It Up – In Style

After choosing the gift, the next step is to make it so attractive it’s part of the holiday appeal. Some folks have the thing down pat, creating packages with perfect corners and stylish bows. Others do it by-guess and by-golly, but there are tricks that can help either type of wrappers.

There are outlets that provide wonderfully color-matched wrappings with all sizes of boxes and bags to handle anything you could buy as a gift. If you doubt your own ability to pull it off, browse some of these stores or sites. But if you are determined to make it on your own, here are some ideas:

Begin by buying a season’s supply of double-sided tape. It goes smoothly beneath the surface and leaves a neat seam line.

Keep your sheets of wrapping paper bound by toilet paper tubes to ensure that they stay neat and manageable. Cut the tube lengthwise and snap it over the roll of paper and avoid the mess of warped and wrinkled paper.

A plastic bread clip can keep the end of your transparent tape roll from being lost so that you don’t lose time trying to find it each time you are ready to begin again.

Avoid having to wrap awkward-shaped gifts by finding clever containers for them. Round canisters that held potato chips or other snacks make dandy housing for small stocking-stuffers. Toilet paper, paper towel and other tubes, (including the wrapping paper tubes as they empty) ditto. Turn a foil-lined chip or popcorn bag inside out, cleaning off any oil or other debris and voila! Insert your gift, add a bow and it’s ready for the recipient. Inexpensive plastic food containers also serve well for small gifts and make for easy wrapping. Gift boxes of all sizes are available to help provide a good surface for wrapping clothing, soft toys and other items.

Use popsicle sticks, wooden spoons and other items with flat surfaces to create a gift tag. Drill a hole for the ribbon and put on the who-to and who-from and you have a distinctive gift. Use some imagination.

If paper is your nemesis, use fabric to wrap your gift. It is reusable, has more flex and is more durable and less easily damaged than paper. Newspaper, especially the colored comic pages, also makes an interesting gift wrap.

Kraft butcher paper, a popular item in the gift-wrap specialty stores, makes a nice countrified finish. Heavy duty mailing paper also is easy to work with. Use a rubber stamp or your own artistic talents to put a design on, style it up with a ribbon and you’re set.

Work on a flat surface. It’s easier to control paper, ribbon and tape.

Recycle old wrapping paper or greeting cards by cutting out the designs and reusing them to create new items or decorate your plain gift wraps. Make thank-you cards using these sources as well.

Turn your creative urges loose and one idea will lead to another. Then let the wrapping begin!

Or you can watch this fun video.

California Bans One Time Use Plastic Bags

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Only 9 percent of the total plastic waste generated in 2012 was recovered for recycling.
Only 9 percent of the total plastic waste generated in 2012 was recovered for recycling.
It appears to be coming. In California it’s already here. With plastic bags clogging waste facilities and waterways in America, it seemed inevitable that governments would begin to take steps to reduce this form of pollution. Time to consider buying sturdier, reusable shopping bags for your purchases.

Recently, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that prohibits large grocery stores and drugstores in that state from giving customers their purchases in single use bags. The bill becomes effective in July 2015. The following year, smaller grocery stores and convenience stores will be have to comply with the new law.

The legislation also offers a compensation to the stores by allowing them to charge a 10-cent fee for reusable or paper bags. The statewide legislation built on actions taken by more than 100 towns and cities in California, including Los Angeles and SanFrancisco that already had bans in place. Their regulations, if adopted before Sept. 1, 2014, will be protected by a grandfathering clause built into the state law. Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island are also considering banning the plastic bags.

“We’re the first to ban these bags and we won’t be the last,” Brown said in a statement. The companies that produce the single-use bags fought the legislation, saying it will result in job losses.

But Brown pointed to the enormous costs of trying to manage the litter produced by the bags. Millions of dollars are spent every year by recycling facilities and landfills that are threatened to be buried under the debris, he said.

With the handwriting on the wall, many consumers already are buying sturdier bags that can be reused for a long time.

Kraft Paper Production Is A Science

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Kraft Paper In It's Finished Form
Kraft Paper In It’s Finished Form
Kraft paper wrapping and packaging products have become increasingly popular in a world where customers want to take their purchase home in something that’s as attractive as the item itself. The paper, usually brown, but with color options, harks back to the old mercantile treatment of an earlier era. It’s also more durable than many wrappings and holds up well under some heavy-duty shopping. (In it’s native German, Kraft means “strong.”)

Carl Dahl Invents Kraft Manufacturing In 1884

Making Kraft Paper is a method that has been in use since at least 1884, when a German, Carl Dahl, invented it. The first Kraft mill in the United States opened in 1911 in Pensacola, Florida. Today, some 80 percent of paper production incorporates elements of the process. Interestingly, plants using the process can be identified by the strong, offensive smell caused by the sodium sulfide and caustic sodium hydroxide used in production.

Production Process

The production process generates byproducts that can be used in several ways, making it a cyclical process. Wood is prepared for paper production by a chemical process that breaks down the lignin, the cellulose component of wood. That creates a byproduct called black liquor. After evaporation to remove liquids, it is burned to generate the high-pressure steam that the mill uses to make paper. The other non-organic components of the black liquor then regenerate the sodium sulfide and sodium hydroxide that are used for pulping.

When the wood of conifer trees is used, a soaplike substance remains, which is acidified and used to produce “tall oil.” The oil is a source of fatty acids, resin acids and other chemicals. A component called rosin is used in some rubbers, adhesives, inks and emulsifiers. Another byproduct, pitch, is used as an adhesive, a binder in cement and an emulsifier for asphalt.

Strong Fibers Are Produced By Removing Lignin

When the end product is intended to be Kraft Paper, a sulfite process is used to remove the lignin from the wood. An alkaline solution, rather than acid, is used because it is less corrosive and damaging to paper production equipment. The Kraft process is more effective at removing lignin and produces a stronger fiber. This fiber also is rougher and contains more impurities than papers created with the sulfite process. The result is that the Kraft Paper is more difficult to bleach.

Kraft Paper Production In The United States

United States producers have moved to the forefront in production of pulp and paper products. The abundant pine trees of the country largely provided raw products for the process. The cyclical nature of paper production also made large energy savings possible. The Kraft process was critical in making America a world leader in the industry.

So, the next time you take home a purchase that is attractively wrapped or packaged in a Kraft Paper item, tip your hat to Carl Dahl, who started the whole thing.

Magic Trade Show In Las Vegas – The Business Of Fashion

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magic-retailer-tradeshows-las-vegasTwice a year, in February and August, thousands of fashion retailers meet in Las Vegas for the Magic Vegas trade show. The show is the world’s largest marketplace for fashion buyers and brands. More than $200 million dollars in orders are written daily at this popular trade show.

You’ll find am array of merchants offering products ranging from contemporary men’s and women’s apparel to footwear, accessories and sourcing resources! Magic fuels the business of fashion.

Dates for this years’ Magic show will be August 17, 18, 19 and 20th at the Las Vegas Convention center. This is a must see event for anyone in the retail fashion industry.

There will be a series of educational sessions designed to help the novice retailer and the more experienced retailers. If you want an overview of everything that is happening in retail, manufacturing and branding in the United States, you can attend the session given by Christopher Griffin, PRESIDENT of WWDMAGIC & SOURCING. Educational sessions are given each day throughout the conference.

For the online retailer, sessions will cover creating successful web strategies, driving more traffic from search engines and converting traffic into leads and sales. They even top that off with using analytics to increase revenues.

Attending the Magic show could be just the impetus you need to start your own retail business!

Christmas Season Gift Packaging

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Kraft Wrapping Paper And Special Toppers Can Add Jazz To Your Christmas Presents
Kraft Wrapping Paper And Special Toppers Can Add Jazz To Your Christmas Presents
So what is new for this Christmas in the way of gift packaging? With so many ideas of creative ways of adding fun to your gift wrapping, all you really need are supplies and a visit to Pinterest. Pinterest users share quite a few unique designs that really don’t look that expensive to make.

Some of their packages are just wrapped with the plain brown kraft wrapping paper and then tied with red ribbon and decorations made from natural evergreen tree twigs. Pine cones can be a very cute addition as well. Some are even getting lace doilies and adding them to the package. Your imagination is really your only limitation.

About BowsNBags.com

The BowsNBags blog presents retail store owners with resources that will be helpful to them in growing their businesses. From suggesting conferences to attend to finding the best sources for their products, we cover a wide range of simple, helpful tips and suggestions for your retail store operations. On our store front at BowsNBags, we provide our customers with all the supplies they will need to wrap packages for customers, to provide shopping bags for customer and to provide retail gift … Read More

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