Not sure if you have seen them or not. I have gotten them as a gift and have seen them at mostly hand crafted shops. The basic idea is that there is a book wrapped in brown paper (or wrapping paper if you are feeling fancy). Either on a tag or the brown paper are a few bullet points that describe the book inside (this mystery, love story, suspensefully, fried chicken, etc.) Just enough that you don’t give it away, but makes someone want to read it. And then tied to it is flowers, a snack, sticker, pencils, or something like that. (or all of that). Online they run from $7-$20 plus shipping.

I wanted to do these for gifts this year but that was starting to add up. I can do this I said to myself (and shockingly they did turn out cool). This is how I did it: went to thrift stores, half price books, other used bookstores and goodwill, etc to gather up books in good condition that fit for each person and smelled ok. I then wrote out each person, the book title and researched 3-4 things about the book, as some of these I had not read.

I had some brown lawn bags in the garage. I cut one open and put it print side up and cut out pieces to wrap the book. As I wrapped, I figured out it is easier to side wrap than wrap like you might normally wrap a gift. I also made sure to put a post it note with the book title on the wrapped book when done (they all look the same at this point. I also used packing tape to hold the brown paper.

Prior to this wrapping process, I gathered up some silk flowers from a dollar store and picked up favorite candy for my friends and a roll of ribbon. This part is really what you can personalize based on the person and your budget.

Using the ribbon (and some hidden tape, you decorate the book being sure to write Blind Date with a Book or Blind Book Binge (for my 9-year-old cousin) on the wrapper and then the bullet points you came up with earlier. And you are done.

I did wrap these in holiday paper for gifts but honestly you could just hand them off like this if you wanted.