Trends

{Sponsored} Trends in paper aren’t just for greeting cards, journals and gift books — they’re also echoed across the industry in giftable items and the paper wraps for those gifts. Baby paper goods are no different. This season, you’ll see Pantone palette shades in baby gift wraps and ribbons.

Gender-neutral is the name of the game for many shower themes and nursery designs. Parents aren’t just reserving blue for boys and pink for girls, and trends in all baby items, including gift wrap itself, are showing off new tones to entice baby gifters. The Gift Wrap Company is embracing the trend in their new baby gift wrap styles.

Their hot colors are sweet mint and soft yellow, both of which are represented on the latest Pantone palettes. By combining these gender-neutral colors with some pink and blue shades, they’re making the wrap more about the design and less about the sex of the baby.

Besides sticking to color, the new collection also has neutral designs and rainbow wraps. They’ve stuck to mid-tones rather than neon or traditional pastel for the baby styling, and the colors really pop together as a result.

Happy Hippo features sweet little gray hippos with green trees, blue umbrellas and orange suns on a sweet mint background. Texture is included in the designs, making the wrap look 3D even though it isn’t: the clouds have a gentle dot pattern, and it’s carried over to the edging on the umbrella and flowers and the fruit on the trees. With the other animals represented (songbirds, turtle and frogs), it’s bound to be a hit with any parent-to-be.

Animal ABC has a muted mustard background with “traditional” pink and blue with brown, gray and yellow lettering. Adorable animal illustrations are placed with the first letters of their names, and more subtle textures make the design more interesting (plaid on the elephants’ ears, squiggly lines for the jellyfish arms and etching for bear’s fur, to name a couple).

“Traditionally people associate certain icons with a gender. Boys get dinosaurs or tigers and girls get unicorns or foxes. I hope that people will see how forward-thinking we are and how gender doesn’t own an icon. Dinosaurs can be for a baby girl as well. Or for your surprise baby,” Erin MacEachern, a designer at The Gift Wrap Company. Dino DazeDino Daze is incorporating the rainbow craze that we’re seeing in baby. The chubby baby dinosaurs have a crayon texture and expressive facial expressions.

Textures are important in this year’s baby wrap. Besides the crayon and polka dot “textures” printed in some of the designs, flocking is becoming popular again, and a linen texture creates softness in baby wraps. Foil isn’t just for holiday. “A lot of our baby bags utilize flocking for the soft texture. The Twinkles wrap is starry with mint, yellow, gold,” MacEachern said. Along with its foil stripes, the TwinklesTwinkles bag incorporates foil stars into the main pattern.

When stocking these sweet wraps, include accents that will complement the designs, such as ribbons that play off the less prominent colors. The SoftlySoftly StripedStriped tissue works with several baby designs. Its muted shades of gray, coral, blue, white and mint work especially well with the Happy Hippo and Animal ABC.

“It’s about having a balance. Every baby gifting experience is different. Every family is different. Have a versatile collection with different icons and different colors. (Include) things you’d see traditionally plus not,” MacEachern said.

To learn more about The Gift Wrap Company, visit www.giftwrapcompany.com.

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