Wrap it up

St. Paul, Minn.-based 3M — the makers of Scotch tape, Post-It Notes and other sticky stuff — commissioned a study about the gift-wrapping techniques, trends and opinions of Americans. What follows are a few of the sticky results.

• One in four people wrap their holiday gifts one or two days before giving the gift (27%). Another 22% wrap three to six days before the gift giving occasion.

• When it comes to wrapping this year’s holiday presents, nearly three in four adults (71%) are most likely to purchase gift wrap supplies and wrap the presents themselves, while one in five (19%) will put items in a gift bag instead of wrapping them. Just 3% said they will have gifts professionally wrapped at a store.

• Just over half of the adults surveyed (53%) have saved and re-used gift wrap paper, with women (61%) more likely than men (44%) to recycle used gift wrap.

• Nearly three in four adults (71%) believe that women are better gift wrappers than men, based on the overall appearance of the gift.

• Nearly three in four adults (74%) say that the female head of household is most likely to wrap the majority of holiday gifts in their home, while just 19% say the male head of household wraps the majority of the gifts.

• While the average number of presents wrapped by adults in a typical December holiday season is about 15 (15.3), women wrap an average of 10 more gifts than men (20.3 women, 9.9 men).

• When asked which TV show character best describes their gift wrapping style, adults surveyed considered themselves to be: "The Perfect Wrapper" like Monica Geller from Friends (55%); "The Quirky Wrapper" like Cosmo Kramer from Seinfeld (23%); "The Messy Wrapper" like Rosanne Arnold from Rosanne (16%); "The No Gift-Wrapping Wrapper" like Homer Simpson from The Simpsons (6%)