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The time has come for a play-by-play of the gift wrapping contest!  It’s really hard to set the stage and paint an accurate picture of the event, but let me just say it was so much fun, so exhilarating and way more INTENSE than I would have ever imagined.

We stayed at the Roosevelt Hotel on 45th and Madison Ave. and were treated to this gorgeous Christmas tree in the lobby.

On Friday morning, we left the Roosevelt Hotel at about 6:30 am to walk to Bryant Park where the contest was being held.  Even at 6:30 am the streets of New York were bustling. Once we reached Bryant Park, we had to do a little BNE (breaking and entering) as the park was still closed.

Bryant Park was such a beautiful location for the Scotch Most Gifted Wrapper contest.  We were in the Celsius building, which is an all glass structure that overlooks the park.

From the windows you can see the Christmas tree and skating rink. Yes, there were people ice skating at 7:30 am!

Scotch had a breakfast bar set up for us to enjoy before the contest and there were beautifully wrapped gifts all around serving as inspiration!

Once we were finished with breakfast, we began working with media.  It involved taking lots of photos, recording sound bites and doing interviews with local TV stations.  Here are all the contestants posing for a group photo.  We had to wear our Scotch Handband Tape Dispensers at all times.

Prior to and during the contest, there was a live band playing holiday music which was piped into the building and all around the park.

Upstairs is where the wrapping magic took place.  There were individual stations set up for each contestant with dividers between so we couldn’t see what everyone else was doing.

Once the contest was ready to begin, we were ushered upstairs to begin round 1 of the wrapping. During round 1 we had 10 minutes to wrap two gifts.  One was a boxed game and the other item was a larger rubber duck outside the box.

Throughout the competition there were camera shooting from every angle.  Here’s a look at my wrapped items from Round 1!

During round 1 we were required to use the new Scotch Expressions Tape on one of the items.  I choose to use it on the game I wrapped. It really is a fabulous tape, comes in lots of colors and is removable!

Four people were eliminated after round 1 and four of us continued on to round 2.  During round 2, we had 13 minutes to wrap a TUBA.  Yes, OMG would be an accurate sentiment.  I had a vision in my head and wrapped like a fiend.  I actually finished wrapping with about 4 minutes to spare.

My bow looks at little deflated in this photo but it was perky when I finished wrapping.

After Round 2, two people were eliminate and two were selected to head into the final wrapping round…and I made it!  I was so trilled but also felt the nerves setting in at the thought of having to wrap the Round 3 item, a model airplane that measured 8 feet wide and 5′ long!   Yes, my knees were shaking at this point!

We had 16 minutes to wrap the plane and the intensity was beyond words.  The crowd was yelling, there were cameras in your face and time seemed to fly by (no pun intended).

Here I am wrapping the airplane.

While I didn’t win the competition, I took home second place and a nice cash prize!  The best part of all was having the experience of a lifetime and spending time in New York at Christmas!  Dreams do come true!

Thanks Scotch for a fantastic event and a lifetime of memories!