Yes, it is the most wonderful time of the year.

But it’s also the time when panicked procrastinators everywhere, stand before their stack of unwrapped gifts, place their hands over their hearts, and pledge allegiance to the genius that created gift bags.

But a lot of people prefer good old fashioned wrapped gifts. But don’t worry if you’re lacking in the creativity department. Two local gift-wrapping gurus are offering their tips on getting creative with your holiday gift-wrapping.

West Chester resident Sue Glew knows a thing or two about gift-wrapping. For the sixth year in a row, her company, Best Friend Errand Service was hired by Kettering Hospital in Kettering to provide gift-wrapping services to its employees.

She offers her advice for thinking about the outside of the box:

• “It’s all about the bow,” said Glew. “It’s the first thing people notice.” And if the only bow you can tie is the one on your shoelaces, websites like Pinterest offer a plethora of examples for fancy bows and how to make them.
• Tulle is an easy-to-use and economical choice for creating beautiful bows. She suggests that when choosing a tulle color, to pick an accent color from the wrapping paper to highlight with the bow.
• Once you’ve gotten comfortable using tulle, Glew recommends trying organza for a variety.
• Wire ribbon is the easiest to use but is the most expensive.
• As for the inevitable awkward sized gift, she suggests placing cellophane over colored tissue paper (to conceal the gift) and then of course, topping it off with a big, fancy bow.
• Beavercreek resident Julie Crusenberry can make gifts look beautiful by repurposing things you may already have around your home. In fact, Crusenberry, owner of Steph’s Jewels, has made a business out of giving new life to things that others might overlook. Her gift-wrapping technique involves reusing some holiday favorites:
• “I’ve seen candy canes, ornaments, tinsel, bells, twigs, evergreen, pine cones and boughs of holly sitting atop special gifts,” said Crusenberry.
• No fancy wrapping paper on hand? No problem. A favorite of Crusenberry’s is plain brown mailing paper or a brown grocery bag to wrap gifts. “Then I stencil snowflakes and other Christmas shapes on the packages.” The Sunday comics, old maps and even wallpaper can make creative and inexpensive wrapping paper as well.
• If you have young kids, let them draw their own version of Christmas shapes and scenes onto plain brown wrapping paper.
• For ribbons, Crusenberry recommends buying bolts of ribbon rather than the conventional gift-wrapping ribbons. “It’s actually more economical because they can be saved and re-used the next year. My mom used to save gift ribbon and ties and then iron them out to reuse the next year.”