249 Shopping Days until Christmas — start thinking about your wrapping strategies

Yep, it’s that time of year — the countdown to Christmas is on, and the rush to buy for the season of giving is underway!

One of my favorite things about Christmas is the custom of wrapping, which is a wonderful play on human psychology. What’s in here? What does the shape tell me? How heavy is it? What does it sound like?

And the most fun you can have is present mis-direction — the heavy large box that includes theatre tickets; the small throwaway present that is actually “the big one”. These are examples of psychological Copernican Shifts because the mis-match between perception and reality creates a satisfying “ah ha” moment that is both stimulating for the present receiver, and joyful for the present giver. It also says “I care enough about you to actually spend extra time thinking about the wrapping”. It is a “Eureka Moment” that adds excitement and engagement to the ceremony of giving. Gosh, how I do love Christmas Day!

Well, now there’s a product called Prank Pack — Genuine Fake Gift Boxes  that are TOTALLY AMAZING. These are the ultimate Copernican Shifts in present giving because they manage to take the receiver from “Wow, what an unbelievably crappy and potentially mortally dangerous gift” to “Wow, what a thoughtful present!”. That’s a lot of territory for the brain to cover in a short time, so it’s bound to be super satisfying on Christmas morning.

These fall under the category of omigosh, I wish I’d thought of that … and I’ll admit that a couple of these don’t sound like necessarily terrible ideas.

My favorite is the “Bathe and Brew“. I’m usually moving at 100 miles an hour in the morning, and this looks like a really convenient way to combine my shower time with my coffee time, although there are some troubling electrical issues that may come into play:

Prank Pack -- Bathe and Brew

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The “Turn & Churn” ice cream maker falls into that odd nether region of “is this an actual invention, or is it just a novelty package?” My feeling is that someone is hard at work patenting this idea already. It’d be great for car shows — by the time you arrive at the show and set up your chair you’ll have a tasty bowl of ice cream to pass the time:

Prank Pack -- Turn and Churn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The “Crib Dribbler” lives in the “OMG that’s an OUTRAGE” category that people reserve for anything that seems remotely dangerous for children, like SNL’s Bag O’ Glass. I will say … if this worked … it’d be kinda cool. Gerbils seem to be able to manage it:

Prank Pack -- Crib Dribbler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The “Pet Sweep” sorta sounds like a good idea, actually:

Prank Pack -- Pet Sweep

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, my P&G experience tells me that “Sizzl Dryer Sheets” are a winner — skip the test market and go national immediately:

Prank Pack -- Sizzl Dryer Sheets

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I tweeted it: