I’m a fan of gift bags. Especially
when you live a frantic life, it’s so easy to just slip a gift for someone in a
cheerful bag, stuff some tissue paper in the top (maybe even add a sprig of
ribbon if you’re feeling saucy) and—voila!—instant present. Books are
different, though. If you’ve ever wrapped a book before, I find the experience
very satisfying.
Here at Promising Pages, we do a lot
of wrapping. In fact, wrapping the books we distribute to kids in our area is
one of the things that makes our organization so unique. Imagine that rush of
joy you feel when a friend hands you a present. Now imagine you’re seven, and
that friend is wearing a bright yellow bookworm costume. Needless to say,
wrapping books is very important to our organization. And as you may know, we
largely rely on the helping hands of volunteers to do this very important job.
One of the things I dislike about wrapping (other than wrestling with the
roll of paper) is how very time consuming it can become. It takes time to wrap
well! Promising Pages has found an ingenious solution: the Wrapping Party. At
every wrapping party I have ever attended, people are astounded by the number
of books that can be wrapped by a group, instead of just one. In addition,
wrapping books in a group creates a great place to catch up, or even get to
know someone better. When the conversation is great, the fact that you’re doing
a monotonous activity is trivial.
Speaking of which, is wrapping so trivial after all? Remember how you
felt getting a wrapped gift as a child? Do you recall that buildup of suspense
as you tried to guess the contents of the package? Opening that present was a
gratifying experience, especially if it was something you wanted! Wrapping the
books we distribute serves a purpose: we are creating positive thoughts and
feelings associated with books. Surely that is worth an hour or two of wrapping
with friends, and there is certainly no shortage of books that need attention!
If you’re interested in hosting a wrapping party of your own (or just being a
part of one), the volunteer page on our website is always open.
#readysetread
-Carly Foster
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