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Dolls N DreamsI thought this topic should have its own space and would be a fun topic , I purchased a bear from Aleta this week and it was wrapped adorable!
I have a picture on my auctions and site on how mine are wrapped, I try to use the colors of my website....... how do you get your sweeties ready for shipping......
Past Time BearsHere are some links from the LIBRARY that address that subject. These are under the "Shipping" category.
http://www.teddy-talk.com/viewtopic.php … 166#p69166
http://www.teddy-talk.com/viewtopic.php … 83#p185283
http://www.teddy-talk.com/viewtopic.php … 93#p128393
http://www.teddy-talk.com/viewtopic.php?pid=4092#p4092
http://www.teddy-talk.com/viewtopic.php … 773#p25773
Hi Tami, 
As you received Miss Muffet you know that her packaging was on the right. A plain white box wrapped with a vintage Vogue sleeve tissue pattern tied up with ribbons and a sprig of velvet millinery. I like to wrap all sorts of ways depending on the size of the bear and the size of the boxes they will be shipped in.
The bear on the right is tucked into a cellophane bag with a sleeve of cardstock in the back for support. Then I just stapled on another bit of cardstock on the top and added an accordian circlet and a WISH ticket. Since I fiddle around with cardmaking and mixed media art I have all sorts of goodies on hand to play with.
Call me obsessive compulsive, I like to put my personal touch on everything! 
Warmest bear hugs,
Aleta
P.S. Feel free to use any of these ideas!! 
desertmountainbearYou ladies make it seem really like Christmas when your buyer gets their package. I love this idea. I usually don't package, but I think I will have to be more creative
Joanne
PaYou both have really cute ideas! It definitely does make it more special when the bear comes wrapped so sweetly.
Kathleen
Waggle BearsTami, thanks for making this subject its own topic. I'm anxious to hear what everyone says. I'll go over the links Sue Ann gave, too. I have read the first link and I pretty much do similar stuff with lots of tissue paper and bubble wrap. I don't like peanuts either, Dilu.
Tami, I think your packaging is very pretty. I like the colors coordinated with your website colors. How big are your bears? Where do you find your cello bags?
Aleta, your wrappings are gifts in themselves. Do you package your larger bears like this as well?
I'd love ideas because I've just been wrapping in tissue and about ten pounds of bubble wrap. But when I saw Tami's packaging on ebay, I thought just how ickky mine looked. I don't want to copy anyone exactly, just want to make my bears look prettily packaged like Tami and Aleta.
I'd really appreciate hearing from some of you who make larger bears...Paula, are you listening? Anyone else?
Thanks for all and any ideas and sharing what you do.
Back Road BearsOne of my favorite ingredients in my wrapping is the "non-woven" tissue I found at Nashville Wraps. The color doesn't bleed, rub off etc. and the stuff doesn't rip. It comes in all kinds of colors. I also use cello bags and fun ribbon to compliment the tissue. A pretty custom label on the outside in colors to match the tissue and ribbon and things look pretty coordinated. Most of my bears are on the medium to large size so I have big enough bags for the bears to fit into and the tissue is big so it all works. I enclose a thank you card with the mohair bears and their receipt.
It's the shipping boxes......... I really don't want to buy boxes, especially where we can get free ones from the Post office and I don't charge for US shipping. But those priority boxes don't fit my big bears.
Styrofoam peanuts.... use 'em, love 'em.... I get them free from a local gift shop as they are used in lots of packaging when their orders come in. I just don't like RECEIVING anything in them! LOL! I do use those air pillows or bubblewrap when I have 'em and choose them over the peanuts. Come to think of it, I use most of the peanuts when shipping gifts to my in-laws!
:crackup:
I'm with Tami on loving Aleta's packaging. It was SOOO much fun to get a wee bear from her at Christmastime!!
My biggest pet peeve is buying an artist bear and it arrives in reused, faded tissue followed by reused, dusty bubblewrap with layers of tape and the poor bear is squashed and suffocating inside the mess. I've gotten bears like that more than once. Thankfully the majority come nicely wrapped.
Lexsomnia Bears*Quick Tangent* Aleta- your blog is fantastic! What a sweet, fun read! Thanks!
Yes I'm here! I'm reading this with my head held in shame Marlys! 
I package my bears with practical things in mind like, 'will they get opened by customs' and can the box sustain a trip overseas! Also, I consider how time consuming it is to pack the bears, so try to do it as quickly and efficiently as possible. So I'm afraid I can't lay claim to beautiful packaging, I use a good stout box, a ton of parcel tape and 'fragile' tape, stacks of bubble wrap and a clear poly bag to put the bear into. I enclose a postcard with my contact details and now and again, if I have a spare, a back issue of one of the UK mags for overseas customers. That's about it folks!
I love the creative packaging other people use, but it's not really practical for really big bears!
Tuppies TeddiesI wrap my bears in cellophane and also tissue paper then place them in a pretty decorater box. These boxes usually only cost $2-$3, I also include a card with email and website addresses. The parcel is then wrapped in brown paper and then I print off the address it is to go to and stick that on.
A little extra I feel goes along way in satisying a customer...besides I love packaging them, it feels like Christmas...
(tiptoeing in quietly so Paula doesn't hear me).....
Yes, I do package my large bears the same way. Cello bags come in a vast array of sizes. The bear gets packaged up much the same way as you would tidy up a gift basket.
(tiptoeing quietly back out).....
Warmest bear hugs, :hug:
Aleta
Bears by EdieI am just astounded! It has never crossed my mind to do up fancy packaging when mailing off bears! I guess, as Paula has said I have been thinking more in terms of getting it there safely, with customs always in mind, and the possibility they will open and inspect it. Perhaps it makes a difference if you are sending most of your bears within your own country or sending to another. Most of mine do have to go through customs. Also as the mailing costs keep going up all the time I try to keep the size and weight to the minimum so that the customer will pay the least possible for shipping. The only time I have gift wrapped my bears is if they are actually being sent as a gift! The packages shown here look absolutley delightful - so much so that I think I would hate to unwrap them! -but practically speaking I can't see me doing it.
I also try to be conscious of recycling and reducing waste. I DO reuse bubble wrap and tissue - it is always clean though and no messy tape bits left on. I use new tissue to wrap around the bear before boxing it - often in recycled boxes ( I bought a whole ton of tiny cardboard boxes that had iron on name labels in them from a store closing - so recycled but basically brand new) and then if the tiny box is going into a larger box, the larger box will be a recycled one (Canada Post doesn't give out free boxes like USPS does - but I would still recycle good boxes) and use the recycled clean tissue, bubble wrap, or plasic peanuts as padding in the larger box. I don't really approve of plastic peanuts and have never bought them but since I am constantly getting them in packaging I feel the best way to deal with them is keep on recycling them!
This topic does have me thinking though - maybe come up with a way to spruce up my packaging but still using recycled things - like the great idea of the Vogue tissue pattern that Aleta has wrapped around her box.
Posts: 3,540Will I have to hang my head in shame too and I am trying to come up with practical ways to dress up my bear's packaging. But last year I had a horrible run in with tissue paper 
I wrapped one of my bears in what I thought was some beautiful white brand new tissue paper, and then there was this smell I couldn't find emannating in the Bear Room. I followed my nose, as it smelled like car oil...and not even good clean car oil, but used car oil...and it was coming from ~ the tissue paper 
!!! I can't begin to tell you how sick I felt over that I ripped the paper off, drug it outside, threw it away, cleaned my hands and then took over a full day with an ozone generator getting the smell back out of my beautiful bear 
"Ticked'' does not even come close to how I felt!
So I went back to my old version of placing them in a brown paperbag, with a plastic bag for overwrap. Now this does nothing for presentation, and the very next bear I sold, the collector comment she looked like takeaway from a restaurant. I explained the packaging which is down to practicality (paperbag keeps the faces from being smushed and the plastic bag is to protect the real fur), but she's right. A collector should feel like they are getting something super special when they buy a bear from me.
So I've been on a quest ever since. Although I haven't found anything I like ~ yet I think Daphne may have pointed me in the right direction, though :hug:
Waggle BearsOh, Paula, don't hand your head. I hadn't taken into consideration that many of you ship outside your own country and I can see that would add a whole bunch of worries thinking about customs agents tearing through your packages.
Aleta, I don't doubt your larger bears are packaged just as beautifully as your smaller ones. It's very generous of you to say we can copy your ideas, though I'm sure mine wouldn't look anywhere as beautiful as yours. I will try something like it though...where can I find vintage Vogue patterns? I probably have some 1970/80 era patterns up in the attic of our garage. I should look.
Daphne, I checked out Nashville Wraps; I even have a catalog around here someplace. I couldn't find anything referred to as "non-woven" tissue paper. There were some labeled as pH neutral, though.
Thanks for all the ideas.
Back Road BearsHere is the link to the non-woven tissue paper at Nashville:
Wow very pretty,
I think you guys have too much time on your hands 
I am with Paula on this one. I wrap mine in tissue paper and bubble wrap, a water proof bag, packing peanuts... if I remember my cards I try to write a little thank you note.. then it's a race to the post office to mail it on my lunch break.. lol.
I'm afraid customs would make quite a mess of a pretty package if it got tagged to be opened.. lol. At least 90% of my bears get shipped out of country. I'm always worried someone will crush the box with something heavy. One of my bear friends years ago had a bear "dunked" and ruined by Aussie customs. I had another bear friend whos package got wet and she used colored tissue and it leached onto the bear. 
The horror stories.. another bear friend had her bear Slit open from a customs persons knife! She didn't have enough tissue or bubble wrap on the little guy Bah! no wonder I'm paranoid! lol.
Ah who knows, maybe someday I'll have loads of time to play.. lol. I do love a pretty package I love that stringy eastery grass stuff... and I love ribbons. 
doh.
Hugs!
Melanie
Oh Aleta, now my head is hangin' to my toes. 
TinyBearI wrap mine in silk paper with a ribbon on.
I have been searching for 3 x 3 inch ( or 4 x 4 inch) gift boxes though - can´t get any in Denmark.
Anybody knows where I can buy such boxes online?
I would like to put my bears in a small box inside the brown box I use for shipping.
Wild Thyme OriginalsTina.... I buy 4x4 boxes here in the USA from a cake decorating supply shop. You might also find them at shops that print wedding invitations and the like. The ones I use are actually designed to be put out at weddings so that guests can take a piece of cake home if they like. They are nice and sturdy, and a plain pure white.
Kim Basta
TinyBearTina.... I buy 4x4 boxes here in the USA from a cake decorating supply shop. You might also find them at shops that print wedding invitations and the like. The ones I use are actually designed to be put out at weddings so that guests can take a piece of cake home if they like. They are nice and sturdy, and a plain pure white.
Kim Basta
Thanks s lot Kim
That´s excactly was I was looking for.
I didn´t know it was boxes for wedding, as we don´t have that in Denmark
(oh - people do get married in Denmark , but not the thing with the cakes)
I actually found a website in US who ship overseas and they had some lovely organza ribbon and bags too
so I have ordered some. I´m very excited. Can´t wait to get it. :dance:
:hug:
Since I make mostly minis I place my bears in those tiny decorative tins. Some may have had a candle in them,which I remove or they had chocolate in it which I will remove :crackup: I find them at thrift stores, you can get very cute ones and for very cheap. I have ones with designs for Christmas, Easter, Halloween etc. Or just some plain fun ones. I wrap the bear with a wee bit of tissue (cause not much fits in the little tin) just enough so the bear isn't moving around inside and will stay nice and warm on their journey The tins are nice and firm so I don't worry about it getting squished or damaged by water. Then I wrap the tin itself in bubble wrap..which had been reused but free of any left over tape...I'm not sure how I would mail off a bigger bear????? I did it once a long time ago and I don't remember what I did..
Kristina
