Gift wrapping is one thing that I keep arguing about with my wife. I understand the personal touch it adds to the gifts but I hate to spend $3-4 (a usual cost of a gift bag) for something that will probably go in garbage right away.
One of my readers emailed me earlier this month with a tip about an online store she recently launched, PennylanePapers.com, a place where you can buy a great variety of gift bags for just $1 a piece (shipping is extra so you might want to order in bulk to improve your savings).
It is a very small operation at the moment (Patricia, the owner, is running it by herself) but many successful stories start small. Mark Skorlich, the owner of Cheapestees, started selling his t-shirts from home. It is now an established small business with an office and several employees!
Patricia was kind to share with me how PennylanePapers was born, read some of it below. Sounds to me like a good idea and a great start. Good luck, Patricia, with the enterprise and hey, don’t forget to invite me for the IPO! ;-)
I started Pennylane Papers in September of 2006. The idea really spurred from talking with my sister who has three kids. She was constantly taking them to birthday parties and spending a lot of time (and money) running to stores buying gifts and gift wrap; piling 3 kids in the car to go shopping is also a chore! She often used gift bags as they require less effort than gift wrapping. She’s an internet shopper and I thought it would be a lot easier if she could just buy some inexpensive gift bags and have them on hand. My goal is to carry gift bags that are high-quality and have nice designs - which isn’t always the case at the dollar stores. I try to keep the shipping costs reasonable so the bags are still a bargain; you’re right though, it’s best to buy the most within each shipping cost bracket. I’ve also found that people buy the small size gift bags for goody bags at parties and showers. I generally have fairly large quantities on hand and can fill an order of 20 or more bags of the same design; it isn’t always possible to find large quantities of the same bag at a dollar store or even a card store.
Check out PennylanePapers.com and if you happen to order something, let everyone know how it goes and if you are happy with the quality of the service.
My wife and I usually just re-gift the gift bags we receive.. You’re always guaranteed to receive a couple every year, and sometimes they can be re-gifted for many different holidays.
But yes, I agree, a horrible way to spend $. I feel the same way about $3 hallmark cards..
Same for me, i also re-gift the gift bag i got..coz i thought is a wise if just let the bag put in the store room..better to be re-use than hide it, right…
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There is a small problem with re-gifting bags. If you get a themed bag (say Christmas) then you have to wait a year till you can give it to someone else. Bags just don’t seem to hold for this long in my house. They get lost or kids tear them apart.