'Tis The Season to Wrap Gifts - Need Help?

For many holiday shoppers, the hardest part about giving gifts is wrapping them. It often takes time, patience and creativity. However, if this isn't your forte, one local shop is willing to do the work for you.

For the "wrap artists" at  on Woodward Avenue, Christmas is the busiest time of year. The store offers gift-wrapping services and a large selection of festive paper and colorful ribbons. Prices start at $10 per gift box.

Owner Lisa Gleeson opened the store in the spring of 2004. She had a gift-wrapping business at home for at least 10 years before opening the store.

"I had kind of taken over as much of the house as I could possible take," said Gleeson, who lives in Troy. "At Christmas time it was like any flat surface was mine."

The store is open year-round and is also busy during the spring and summer months wrapping gifts for birthdays and a lot of bridal showers and weddings.

There are at least 175 different wrapping papers available in the store, including about two dozen new paper designs each Christmas, said Melissa Bunker, the store's marketing director.

Gleeson said she gets most of her wrapping paper from stationery and other trade shows throughout the year. "These are not papers you would find in Target or anywhere else," Bunker said.

With Christmas just days away, the store's workers have been constantly busy all week. The wrappers expect a rush of customers on Christmas Eve, particularly men who prefer not to wrap gifts.

"We’re typically prepared for the two weeks before Christmas to be absolute crazy land," Gleeson said.

Wrap artist Brenda Berry said she enjoys the holiday rush. "It's fun. This is my dream job," said Berry, of Bloomfield.

Because the store expects a lot of business this week, most customers will be asked to drop off their gifts and retrieve them at a certain time, Bunker said.

The store also offers shipping services through UPS earlier in the holiday season. Customers can drop off their gifts and store will make sure it gets sent.

This week, Lisa's Gift Wrappers is open 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Christmas Eve. It is located at 28834 Woodward Ave., south of 12 Mile Road. Visit www.lisasgiftwrappers.com or call 248-547-9094 for more information.

If you're interested in learning how to wrap your own gifts just right, check out the two video tutorials.