Packaging Heaven or Hell

Oh it is that time of year, when everything sells better if it is packaged. Packaging is my own personal nightmare - Never has one woman hated wrapping things up as much as I do. On top of not enjoying the process of packaging, I have an ethic of not wasting resources.
It has taken me a long time to be comfortable with the concept of packaging: at the very first fair I did, over 3 yrs ago now I didn't even have bags to put my soap in. I accepted that people needed bags and found recycled paper bags which work fine for soap off the block. Last year my packaging involved popping the soap into recycled peanut sack bags, it suited my ethics, but was not what my customers were really looking for. So, this year, I have bitten the bullet, we have my lovely soap wrapped in handmade paper, liquid soaps and shampoos in glass bottles (I take £1 off the next purchase if I get the bottle back - re-using them suits me), lovely card boxes with taster sets of 4 soaps on a bed of tissue paper, bath salts in jute bags, lip balms, body butters and much more.
I have also found the perfect solution to the jobs I don't like! Get my friends (thank you Maureen) round for lunch and while they are here I can get them to wrap 3 or 4kgs of soap ready for the taster boxes! Then, in return for having a wonderful mum like me, I can rope in one of my teenagers (Edward in this case) to separate little bits of shredded tissue paper into soft tissue paper mountains. This leaves me free to do the creating part of the excercise, unfortunately this means creating the 'stories' to go with my smells - my writer's block hasn't improved. Ghost writing job available, any takers? Come late evening I can sit in front of the wood-burning stove with a glass of wine, put "Breakfast at Tiffany's" or something similar into the dvd player carefully label everything, slip into boxes, AND take the glory at the next fair.