Holiday Tips from Decorators to the Stars

Shine Latina editor

Expert gift wrappers show easy and affordable ways to decorate every holiday present.

Gift-wrapping ideas
Gift-wrapping ideas

The holidays are here, and a mountain of unwrapped presents begins to accumulate with no end in sight. Now is the time to get cracking on packaging your goodies! But there's no reason the outside of your gift box can't be as thrilling as the inside. Latina gift wrapping expert Brenda Guerrero, whose celebrity clients include the Kardashians, suggests always surprising with your own decorating style, while keeping your loved one in mind. The finalist of the 16th annual Scotch Brand Most Gifted Wrapper Contest, shares some of her best gift decorating tips for wowing your lucky recipients from start to finish.

Star-style gift wrapping
For gift givers who enjoy going above and beyond with luxurious paper and elegant bows, Guerrero offers some ideas her celeb clients have loved:

• Khloe Kardashian Odom, who loves giving presents to her family and staff during the holiday season, prefers an elegant and more traditional treatment. She usually chooses light colored, handmade paper with lots of texture. She also likes her presents adorned with big bows in silver, gold or jewel tones.

• Actress Denise Richards prefers to have her daughters' gifts wrapped in bright colors, no matter the season. For Christmas, Guerrero fills Richards' boxes with glitter tissue and wraps them with gold or deep red paper. Then, she ties each present with bright-colored ribbons and hangs little candy canes or gingerbread men figurines from each bow.

• For the holidays, super model Cindy Crawford prefers her gifts wrapped in natural-colored paper with green flecks and floral designs. The wrapping expert, then, tops the presents with a large flower made of gold wire ribbon. The ribbon flower sits next to one of Guerrero's trademark "tissue blooms", a peony made out of delicate tissue paper.

Gift ideas for the entire familia

Thinking outside the gift box
When it comes to creating stylish and affordable gift-wraps, Puerto Rican lifestyle expert Evette Rios suggests starting by looking around at what you already have at home. Here are some of her ideas for unique gift-wrapping supplies:

PAPER: grocery paper bags, phone book yellow pages, Sunday newspaper cartoons, foreign language newspapers, old glossy magazines, old fabric, old baby pillowcases.

RIBBON: raffia, kitchen string (dye it for added effect), flexible and sturdy plant stems, old fabric ribbons, ribbons made of old dresses.

BOW: an item that identifies the gift receiver, like a small apple for a teacher or a fresh flower for the gardener.

For content that speaks to you, visit Shine Latina