Gareth Neary's entire bedroom was covered in decorative wrapping paper.

We all wish we could have real trees to make our houses smell and feel like Christmas, but for many of us, either our apartment isn't big enough or we will be traveling most of the month and can't maintain the upkeep. Here's a solution.

Despite the lamentable fact that I couldn't sell skis in Vermont during the winter, or surfboards in Hawaii during the summer, or even beer to castaways on a desert island, mainly because I would have consumed it myself, I recently got a job as a salesman.

We bet you haven't thought of these before.

Whatever you do, don't spend big bucks on gift wrapping over the holidays. I promise that you don't need to. In fact, you can have more fun and make a more lasting impression on friends and family by creating packaging from trash.

We have come to think that watching a child savagely shred the paper from the package is part of the fun. But if we consider the paper to be foreplay for the gift itself, what better way to extend the excitement than to open packages slowly and with care?