Christmas gift wrap service - good idea?

chocsessential

The Japanese have a system of wrapping gifts in reusable fabric rather than paper. I'd pay someone to do that for me, with part of the profit going to an environmental charity like FoE or Greenpeace.

http://www.env.go.jp/en/focus/attach/060403-5.html

cathj

I would look to see if you could rent a table at local school christmas fayres in the run up to Christmas.

Outdoorlass

It is a good idea, but I can see some potential problems with it:-

Would people trust a stranger to walk off with all their Christmas Shopping.

What happens if you accidently drop a gift and it gets broken or damaged.

What happens if the above doesn't happen, but a customer accuses you of damaging a gift.

I would say renting a table at a craft fair or something maybe more appropriate, but I am not sure how you go about pre-warning people that you will be there and to bring along any gifts they would like wrapping.

Good luck.:)

ffotogirl

Thanks for the responses everyone.

I was kind of hoping it would be something I could do in my living room in my pj bottoms in the evening The risks with damaging presents (or people claiming I had damaged or stolen when I actually hadn't) probably make it more of a fuss than it's worth though I guess. I wish I lived in a friendly little village with a bit more community spirit so this was unlikely, but knowing the people in my area it's probably not worth the bother!

Wrapping classes and parties are a fab idea though! Also, the tables at craft fayres would be do-able around Christmas time as my friends and I usually do the rounds and there a few events at my studios that I could set something up at too... although if I was doing this I would probably do it for charity.

Oh well, back to the extra pennies drawing board!

Thanks again

mikeyboy249

I think it could work, i am no good at wrapping and would pay a minimal amount for someone to do it for me.A few shops offer the service themselves, but a lot of people will be buying online so you could get customers that way.

davidjwest

It might work, give it a go and see - your outlay isn't going to be much and if people dropped the presents off at your house then they have the security in knowing where you live in case you try to steal or damage them!

A lot of people are time poor and this would be a potential time saver - not sure you'd be able to charge enough to make more than minimum wage at best though, but if you could provide the wrapping paper etc you could charge a bit more for that.

The idea about having a stall at places where people buy gifts would be better - I'd certainly pay 50p or so to have some of the more awkwardly shaped presents wrapped and I reckon you could do that in about a minute or two, so there is potential.

flaura

Gemmy wrote: »

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.

on this perhaps you could go into local business?

Edinburghlass_2

The Real Hustle did this, video here on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt7D6sbqYk0

They wrapped the presents while people shopped but didn't do the wrapping in front of people. They weighed the gift then replaced the gift with vegetables and used straw to stop any rattling. Having seen that I would be reluctant to use such a service unless I watching the wrapping take place.

toja

I actually had a similar idea – to hire a stall in a shopping centre and offer gift wrapping services and all gift wrapping goods. I come from abroad and it is common to have such a little shop in a shopping centre, so that people can get the service if they don’t like doing it themselves or don’t think they are good at it. Of course most the shops offer free gift wrapping, but what if not or you fancy something different?
Not sure about wrapping service at home, though… sounds too much complicated – from a customer point of view – to arrange someone to come – to trust all presents – to arrange someone to bring the presents back.