Wrap Battle: Brothers use concrete, riddles, a tarantula in competitive gift-giving tradition

Sarah Hofius Hall | The Scranton Times-Tribune

A competitive holiday tradition started with a steel box.

Justin Gagliardi, a college student at the time, welded the box and put his younger brother’s Christmas gift inside.

For more than an hour on that Christmas Eve more than 20 years ago, family watched as Joseph Gagliardi worked to cut the box open to free the remote control dog toy placed inside.

“I thought, ‘I’m not going to let next year slide,’” Joseph said.

For the Gagliardi brothers, what’s inside the box — or the concrete, ice or diaper, or buried in the neighbor’s yard — doesn’t matter. The tradition of hijinks and hilarity is the gift itself.

“It’s about bragging rights, and who is smarter,” said Joseph, 37.

Forget the wrapping paper, bows and ribbons. The brothers prefer mouse traps, tarantulas and PVC pipes, nestled — and greased — inside each other. Justin, 43, once poured a large concrete block, which weighed a few hundred pounds, containing his brother’s gift inside.

Another year, Justin placed four locks on the lid of a pot. Joseph had to search through 200 random keys to find the keys that would open each lock.

Their mother watched wearily another year when a box of tar sat on her dining room table. Now, the sons are careful that whatever they do won’t cause property damage.

One year, Joseph’s idea required Easter eggs. But where could he buy 1,000 plastic eggs in November? Joseph contacted a church that holds an egg hunt each spring and bought eggs that way. Justin had to search the house for boxes of eggs, then had to open each egg to find part of the gift.

Inside is often a gift card, for as little as $5. One year, the gift was cans of dog food. The supplies used to “wrap” the gift are often more expensive than whatever is inside. A tarantula, used as part of a challenge, became a pet.

With a newborn daughter at home in Archbald, Justin saved diapers for more than a month. The “gift” was the only one Joseph could not complete, as he gagged repeatedly searching through soiled diapers attempting to find a gift card.

Starting in January one year, Joseph saved the receipt from every purchase he made. The Moosic man gave them to Justin in a box with instructions to reveal the numbers to a Home Depot gift card.

“What time did I buy a spicy chicken combo on Sept. 30?”

“This is the sum of all purchases made in 2019.”

“Add $26.75 to what I spent at FedEx in August to get this number.”

Joseph keeps a running list of ideas for the gift, some of which, like the receipt challenge, he must start in January. Justin prefers to wait until December.

“My best ones are the ones I figure out the day before,” Justin said.

The brothers make sure to include whatever tools may be necessary to open the gift, such as a hacksaw, hammer or screwdriver. When Joseph gave Justin a puzzle with GPS coordinates, he included a shovel so his older brother could dig for the gift in the neighbor’s yard.

Justin, who works in real estate and construction, often gives gifts made with construction materials or those that may need chiseled or torn apart to find what’s inside — such as a box with all of its screws stripped, or a ball of chain welded together.

Joseph, who works in sales, often creates puzzles, riddles and tasks meant to take time. Last week, he gave Justin a clue to part of his gift — a large bag of bouncy balls.

The gift-giving is a tradition neither brother expects to end.

“You want to get even,” Justin said.

“If you don’t do it, that means I’m smarter than you,” Joseph told him.

Whoever can retrieve what’s inside the gift first wins.

“I’m not even bragging, but the last two or three years, I’ve won,” Joseph said.

The family plans to gather this year on the Saturday after Christmas.

“I think this year, I’m going to win,” Joseph said.

“No, he won’t,” the older brother replied.