I decided on a whim to use religious themed wrapping paper this Christmas, which in and of itself is a cause for head scratching. Religious Christmas paper! To celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ! You’d think this was a noble, original idea with all the smug satisfaction I had. Original or ironic, I thought it would be in keeping with my plans to incorporate the liturgical year into our family’s day-to-day in 2015.
Since a liturgical 2015 is something a few people are interested in doing, I thought a round up of religious Christmas wrapping paper would be a great idea and something I could reference next year. Not so much the patterns, but the stores where I could buy the paper.
Oh, the incongruity of Christmas wrapping paper. Good luck finding religious Christmas wrapping paper.
Target had 116 different rolls of wrapping paper, and not one of them is religious. Kmart and Walmart had a similar amount, but nary a baby Jesus in sight. I would have been happy with a star of Bethlehem or a dove, and by the end of the hunt I would have settled for a donkey wearing a wreath, but I walked away empty handed.
When I googled “religious Christmas wrapping paper” I came up with a few online stores, the most promising being the aptly named company Christian Gift Wrap. (No mystery what they’re about.) The other best source? Vintage Christmas paper on Etsy. I imagine Hallmark would have some, too, but I couldn’t be bothered to drive over there and their website plays coy with available product.
I finally found some at the 99 Cent store while shopping for Secret Santa gifts. They had two patterns, and one was so indisputably ugly that not even the spirit of Christmas could make it attractive. The other one, the one I bought, is okay. There’s Mary, Joseph, the angel, farm animals, and the shepherds. Practically the whole gang! There is even the star of Bethlehem. I picked up two rolls and will go back for more this weekend.
A note about 99 Cent store wrapping paper. It’s not the most luxurious paper. In fact, wrapping with it is a bit like wrapping a gift with a piece of silk you found in a trunk at the bottom of the ocean while combing the Titanic wreckage. It’s a wee bit flimsy. Sharp corners are your downfall. Oddly shaped packages will be the death of you. For every 10 gifts, buy 300 rolls.
But, if you’re looking for last minute religious Christmas paper, it’s still your best bet.
That *is* the whole gang! The wisemen don't show up until Jesus is a toddler and his family is living in a house (no longer in the stable). :) Nativity scenes everywhere usually get that part wrong…
Yes, you are correct. The Epiphany is on January 6, but no one really knows when that January 6 happened–or if it was even January 6! It's all very mysterious. I don't think they get it wrong, per se. I see it as artistic license/convenience to convey both the adoration of the shepherds and the adoration of the magi in one scene. :)
"For every 10 gifts, buy 300 rolls." ha! With that sentence I knew *exactly* what that paper was like. :)
No joke! :)
The company name "Christian Gift Wrap" made me chuckle. When we were looking for rugs for our church nursery recently, we stumbled across Rug Heaven, purveyor of (and I quote) "faith based Christian rugs." For some reason, I got a good laugh out of that (though we did end up ordering from them). Talk about your niche markets!
I laughed, too! The name is just so…THERE. "Hi! We're Christian Gift Wrap, and we sell–wait for it–Christian gift wrap! We're not here to be clever, we're here to sell paper."
Current catalog has at least one or two options :)