One New Hampshire parent discovered the best technique for wrapping Christmas gifts without distractions from relatives.
Laura McKelligan, 42, shared a TikTok video of her “wrapping weekend,” in which she rented a hotel room for two nights in a row to do all of her present wrapping in one fell swoop.
McKelligan can be seen in the video hauling all of her unwrapped gifts and wrapping materials through the hotel lobby, donning her comfy festive gear, including a “Santa Baby” hoodie, and relaxing in her hotel room alone. She recorded a time lapse of herself wrapping her gifts before showing many photos of all of the completely wrapped gifts sitting on the room’s second bed as well as under the television.
McKelligan toasted the completion of the video and her fruitful weekend away with a well-deserved cocktail and a bag of tortilla chips while she lounged in her hotel bed.
She said in the post that it’s the second annual wrapping weekend! She booked a hotel for two nights, wrapped all the gifts, ordered takeout, and watched a lot of television, and no one asked her for anything.
As of December 24, the video had been seen over 2.6 million times on TikTok, with over 230,000 likes and almost 3,000 comments. Viewers praised McKelligan’s brilliant concept in the comments section.
A parent in the comments section is willing to follow McKelligan’s advice for 2023.
McKelligan tells that this new tradition began in 2021, when she asked her husband what he felt of hiring a hotel room for a few days to finish up her gift wrapping. She believe she simply wanted a short break, she stated. It was just chaos coming out of everything that was going on in the globe last year, so it was a retreat but also an opportunity to wrap.
The mother of four purposefully chose a hotel near to home for her husband to reserve so she could see her family, even delivering doughnuts to her children. She also chose a place near one of her favorite restaurants so she could enjoy her good weekend with some takeaway. This year, she used the same parameters to choose a new hotel close next to her preferred takeaway location in 2022.
McKelligan stated she wasn’t planning to upload the video on TikTok at first because she didn’t think people would like it. And she was correct. What began with 1,000 views rapidly grew to 50,000, with her online virality becoming an internal joke among her family members until she was informed by her son that she had reached 1 million views.
@mckelligan Second annual wrapping weekend! Booked a hotel for two nights, wrapped all gifts🎄, order takeout, watch tons of tv, and no one asked me for anything 🤶🏻. #momwin #wrappinghacks #selfcare #christmas #wrappinggifts #wrappingweekend #mrsclaus ♬ Candy Cane Lane – Sia
