A Little Tale...

So, yesterday was my girlfriend's birthday. I'm not here to tell you about what sort of cake she had, rather something curious that happened to me due to my (in)action.

I hadn't seen my girlfriend in three days as she had been away at a work conference, so when she returned to Edinburgh I had to get ready to surprise her (cake, balloons, presents all that sort of thing). I had to rush out and get some final things, but once I'd returned home I realised I hadn't any wrapping paper! "DAMMIT!" I shouted as I cursed my luck, she was returning home in 20 mins and I had no time to go and buy some gift-wrap.

The sheen of a gift is lost when you present it in the plastic carrier bag labelled with the name of the emporium whence it was purchased, so I had to think fast. HMMM, as far as I knew there was no christmas paper left over, so that was out.

I sat and thought for about 5 minutes. What should I do?! The first (and only) thing that came to me was to use the only abundant source of paper in the house (no, not toilet roll!), takeaway menus. Yes, you read right. I live in the city of Edinburgh, where takeaways are in abundance, hence I am constantly having their menus shoved through my letterbox. I'd gathered them in a pile in the kitchen rather than throw them away, so I started sifting through them for the ideal 'wrapping paper' for my gifts. I settled on my local Chinese takeaway for the larger gift, and a pizza hut menu for the smaller one. See results below;



As I sat admiring my work; I thought, "Hey, I actually quite like this, but she'll probably think I'm just a cheapskate." I thought the whole thing was so ridiculous, I actually asked people via my Facebook status what they thought of the idea, posted the picture, and waited for the onslaught from angry lady-friends. The response I got was rather different than I thought.

I got replies such as the plain, "You're an idiot" and complaints from girls about their own boyfriends wrapping exploits, or lack of. Things were definitely weighted in an 80:20 ratio to the negative comments, but there was a surprising number of positive ones too! Stuff about the originality of the idea to the environmentally-friendly aspect of re-using paper.

But the biggest surprise was that of my girlfriend herself! She liked it! So much so, she actually PREFERRED IT to regular wrapping paper. Is there a moral to this story? I'm not sure, maybe there is. If there is; it's certainly to stay original, keep true to yourself, and no matter how original/wacky/ridiculous an idea might be, you will still have a niche set of 'fans' who will love what you do. Remember this when starting YOUR business, keep it real.

Oh; and whilst I had that gushing feeling of happiness/relief/pride wash over me when my girlfriend told me she loved it, she then announced, "There's regular wrapping paper in the cupboard in the bedroom." DOH!

Tune in tomorrow when I have REALLY big news re: Business no.2, the Highland Tour Company.