What I seem to remember, as a kid: I was ALWAYS strapped for money when it came to Christmas shopping. Granted, most of my shopping was done at the local 5 & 10 in Perrysville....still, there never seemed to be the necessary coin in my wallet.
My entrepreneur spirit kicked in while I was still in elementary school and we were living on Washington Drive. This is one of those....which came first, the chicken or the egg.....memories. I began the Hughes Family Wrapping venture in my bedroom. Not a "fly by night" operation....I would cut little swatches of the various wrapping papers and ribbons and attach them to a large piece of cardboard along with the different colored bows, plus the assortment of name tags. All were assigned a number.
During the last few weeks leading up to Christmas, family members would drop by my room with their gifts and choose how they wanted me to wrap the present. The cost was minimal per package.....somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 or 10 cents.....however, it added up and gave me the additional money to purchase my own family gifts. Thinking back....isn't it amazing what a few bucks would buy back in the 50's!
This tradition continued into the 60's when I was in high school. Truth be told, I DO enjoying wrapping......but did that come from necessity back in the mid 50's or was I just a natural...LOL
I suppose that during the Christmas holiday, Miss Snap Happy can also be called Miss WRAP Happy.
© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser
that was a great idea! wish i'd thought of it back when. did you buy your own wrapping paper and other supplies too?
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post! I can remember trying to find gifts for my family under 99 cents at the W.T. Grant store...I remember buying a lot of hair ribbons and hair nets!
ReplyDeleteMy parents would give my brother and I $10 to spend on Christmas gifts every year (this was in the 60s). I still remember the year my brother bought a $3 bag of assorted combs and gave them as presents. He spent the rest of the money on himself!
ReplyDeleteWe used to hike the roadsides looking for deposit bottles, 5 cents even back then! I believe I got 25, then 35 cents as an allowance for doing chores. Some of it had to go into the collection plate each Sunday...
ReplyDeleteEntrepreneur indeed! I would have never thought of something like that at that age. I am impressed.
ReplyDeleteLinda, that is AWESOME! You were way ahead of your time! lol!
ReplyDeleteWhat a neat idea - I should have done something like this, since I also love to wrap. But it's funny, this reminds me of how I did earn money when I needed it - I baked cookies for my brother and his friends.
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