YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    Rachel Zoe tries her hand at gift wrap

    NEW YORK (AP) — A pretty package can make up for a so-so gift, says stylist-designer Rachel Zoe.

    Don't underestimate the power of stylish wrapping paper, a beautiful bow and a thoughtful card, says Zoe, who has crafted her own paper designs for an online home-goods marketplace.

    She is among the tastemakers who have partnered with the website for the One Kings Lane Holiday Charity Series. Other participants include Rachel Roy, Stacey Bendet of Alice & Olivia, Lela Rose and Katie Lee.

    Zoe's products will benefit Save the Children. Orphan Aid Africa, The Bone Marrow Foundation and The Edible Schoolyard Project, among others, are also represented charities.

    "The same rules apply to gift giving and gift-wrapping as they do to getting dressed, serving food: Presentation is everything!" she says.

    Zoe's One Kings Lane wrapping goods, with animal prints and metallic colors, inspired by her fall and resort fashion collections, will complement the other things she likes to use to trim special packages, including pages from glossy magazines and the fashion illustrations that still appear in some newspaper ads.

    She's been known to unwrap gifts keeping perfectly folded lines and undo bows to keep them pristine so she can use them again.

    "Recycle! Recycle!" she says.

    The one wrapped gift she can spot from a mile away is something from Hermes. "I love to see that orange box. Anything in that orange box is fine — it doesn't matter what it is," Zoe says. "It could just be an empty box and I'll feel like I got my gift."

    News for You

    • Restaurant learns online reviews can make or break

      SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — It was the customer service disaster heard around the Internet.

    • Attorney: Donald Trump lied on stand

      CHICAGO (AP) — The attorney for an 87-year-old woman who accuses Donald Trump of cheating her in a skyscraper condo deal told Chicago jurors on Wednesday that he was personally repulsed by the "Apprentice" star whom he said lied on the witness stand.

    • Debbie Reynolds: We all knew Liberace was gay

      BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — In the new film "Behind the Candelabra," veteran entertainer Debbie Reynolds has just three major scenes to flesh out one of the most complicated figures in piano-playing showman Liberace's life: his loving but sometimes manipulative mother Frances.

    • 87-year-old woman loses to Trump in civil case

      CHICAGO (AP) — An 87-year-old grandmother took on billionaire Donald Trump. And on Thursday — she lost.

    • The new consoles from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony

      NEW YORK (AP) — Microsoft is the last of the three big video game console makers to unveil its latest gaming system. The unveiling comes nearly eight years after the Xbox 360 went on sale. It follows last fall's debut of Nintendo's Wii U and a preview in February of the upcoming PlayStation 4 from Sony.

    • Singer Kellie Pickler named new 'Dancing' champ

      LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kellie Pickler came into the final "Dancing With the Stars" episode in second place but finished in first.