Looking for ways to make holiday gift giving and receiving more exciting for the whole family? Here are some tips on how to liven up boring wrapping paper, hide presents from the kids, and add some mystery to keep everyone guessing!

Wrap gifts as you buy them to avoid curious eyes and to save yourself a marathon wrapping session right before the holiday.

If you do not have time to wrap gifts after a shopping trip, take an oversized box and label it "Kitchen Items" or "Patio Furniture Storage" and use it to hide gifts that you don't want your child to see. Having all the gifts together makes it easier for you to keep track of what you have already bought.

For toddlers, opening boxes and tearing off wrapping paper or ribbons is often more fun than what's inside, so make their gift wrapping as festive as possible.

Use stickers instead of tape for wrapping.

Attach a toy or ornament to the top of your package when tying the bow.

Tape two candy canes on facing each other to make a heart on top of the gift.

Photograph your child making cards and gifts for long distance relatives and include the photographs with the gift.

If you do not have time to wait for courtesy wrapping offered at a department store, request a gift box, tissue paper, and a ribbon to do it yourself at home.

Keep it a mystery as to whose presents are whose. Assign each child a different colored wrapping paper or assign code names for each child so they can't tell which present is which. Choose names of reindeers, stars, or holiday cookies, and you might even assign each child more than one name to make it even more mysterious. Reveal the names behind the codes the day you open presents.

As a colorful alternative to tissue paper for gift bags, and to add pizazz to your presents, run several different colors of construction paper through a paper shredder at the office.

Buy a large colored paper tablecloth to wrap oversized presents.

Stamp, paint, or color white butcher paper or the insides of brown paper bags. (This makes a great project for kids!)

Curl ribbons from thin strips of wrapping paper.

Cut a slit down the length of a tube from a used roll of wrapping paper and put it over a new roll to keep it from unraveling.

When you have wrapping paper leftovers after cutting what you need to size, re-roll the piece slightly smaller than the tube, then slip it inside for compact storage.

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