Christmas gift wrap service - good idea?

ffotogirl

Hello

This is my first Money Saving Expert post ever! The boards have been so useful to me lately that I thought it's about time I contributed with a post of my own.

For about a year and a half I've been saving like crazy towards a holiday (& hopefully a deposit to move somewhere a bit nicer in the future!) by putting money aside from my business wherever possible, living frugally and experimenting with all sorts of little schemes on the side! After endless car booting & ebay selling I've finally run out of excess stuff to get rid of (& honestly, I think I'm too old for babysitting now!) so am trying to come up with more creative ways of earning a few extra pennies.

I'm pretty sure I have a good one but would really like some feedback from you guys.

A couple of years ago I used to work for a company that made gift wrap and all the related accessories. Every year at Christmas they would give all staff a GIANT box of gift wrap goodies and we'd usually end up with all the offcuts and leftovers throughout the year too. It was way more gift wrap, ribbons & bows than I could ever possibly get through and I still have about 4 enormous boxes of the stuff left in my attic!

Now, I know that lots of people hate wrapping gifts or don't have time to do it as every year I have friends come to me asking me to do it for them! It's something I actually really enjoy and I'm pretty good at making all the fancy flourishes to decorate presents too

So, I was thinking that this year I could make a hefty dent in my ridiculous gift wrap stash and earn a few extra pennies on the side by offering a Christmas gift wrapping service in my local area. I thought that at the start of November I could get some flyers printed up (Staples recently sent me £30 in vouchers from my rewards card - yay!) and post them through people's letterboxes offering the service. Maybe charge £1 per gift for simple wrapping and £2 for something more decorative? I could collect the gifts from people's houses, wrap them at home and then deliver them back later on in the week. I was thinking there could be a minimum charge of £10 to make it worth my while.

What do you guys think? Would you pay for a service like this? How much is reasonable to charge? Would you trust a stranger with your presents (I'm thinking this is going to be the biggest problem)? Or is it a silly idea?

All feedback and opinions totally appreciated.

Thank you!

MyRubyRed

Sorry love but I wouldn't pay for it. Lots of stores giftwrap for free and as you say I'd be really dubious about handing over the gifts to a stranger. You'd maybe have to have some sort of insurance to negate against theft or damage which would reduce your profit margin or up the cost to the customer?

Seanymph

However if there are craft sales or evenings at local schools selling gifts and the like you could take a stall there and offer your service.

That way people could either be alerted prior to arriving, and bring gifts, or you could wrap the things they buy there - libraries often have craft days, There are huge craft fairs - I'm trying to think what other places sell gifts to people....... maybe markets? Shopping centres?

You need to be where people are buying gifts (National Trust exhibitions?) - and wrap them there so they bring them home already wrapped and don't have to 'smuggle' them in!

Gemmy_2

Actually i think its a great idea and you could be going somewhere with this.
I mean plenty of people work an awful lot - you know those professional types who really don't have the time to wrap something up - especially making it fancy oh and especially blokes.

KrazyKel

They do this in my local shopping centre every year a giftwrapping service.
There is a stall in the middle of the shopping centre and their min donation is £1 per item wrapped (its for charity)

Seems very popular and has been good for charity.
If you cant do it in the larger shopping centres, the market stalls or smaller areas might be a better idea.

Rockporkchop

I like the idea as I do find wrapping a chore, although I wouldn't pay for it myself to be honest as we usually try to keep Christmas costs down.

Rather than taking the presents away, had you thought about offering to wrap gifts in people's own homes. You could also give them a mini wrapping masterclass for a small fee, and you wouldn't have the problem of them worrying about you stealing if they can see that you are leaving empty handed.

Duncombe

I wouldn't pay anyone else to wrap my pressies - infact, I'm always trying to pursuade others to let me wrap theirs! Yes, Im sad.

OP - As others have mentioned, nobody in their right mind is going to let you take their pressies to your house to 'wrap' them. But the idea of perhaps setting up a stall at a christmas craft market or the such like is a good move if you really wanted to pursue this? Although...alot of places offer a free wrapping service nowadays so I really don't know..

What a totally useless post from me. Sorry OP!

kerri_gt

I think that the idea of gift wrapping for a small fee could have some mileage. It's true that some people don't have time to wrap gifts or aren't very good at it (my OH for one!) and would rather have someone else do it for them. I don't think that people would particualy be willing for you to remove Xmas gifts from their homes (unless it is close friends and family) but Rockporkchop has a good idea about you wrapping them in people's homes. That way you also don't have the hassle of taking them away and having to redeliver them (imagine getting a gift mixed up and delivering to the wrong place!) You could also suggest people could (if they wanted) bring their gifts to yours and you would wrap while they wait.

I suggest a min order value of £10 might put some people off, and chances are, many would prob spend near that amount anyway once they have a few gifts to wrap, but it would be a shame to lose the business of someone spending £7 just because they thought £10 was too much (its all about monetary threshold and perception - like £9.99 seems much less than £10..even though it's not).

The mini wrapping class is a good idea too. Best of luck!

Primrose2004

I had a similar idea, but I was thinking of offering a serivce of sourcing the gifts too. Mainly aimed at men:D I wasn't sure it'd be that much of a good idea though in the current climate. and as others have said there's an eliment of trust required from the buyer and i'm not sure how you could make it work. My idea would mean I'd buy the gift and wrap it nicely(paper/tissue/bows/curling ribbon etc etc) the sort of thing a woman would want to receive but a man hs no idea how to wrap it like it, if you see what I mean. But that would mean the person buying the gift would receive it ready wrapped so they'd have to trust that i'd wrapped what I said i'd bought

I'm not sure it'd work in people's homes either. People with children probably wouldn't want you in their home wrapping incase the children saw

stephyt23

I'm another one not convinced. We have a service like that in our town centre which again is for charity. Check if there's not already something in your area, as people would obviously rather pay for charity than pay you who gets to keep the money, and probably charges more

Seanymph

You could do 'wrap parties perhaps - go to someone's home, take all your gubbins and they have friends around who bring their gifts, they all sit and get slowly pickled and you help them wrap and provide the wrapping gear for a fee per gift..... the 'host' gets all their wrapping for nothing, something like that?