Gift Wrapping – a How To Guide

We’ve previously touched on the art of gift wrapping, how it can set your gift apart and in some ways be a gift in itself. I learnt from the best, Amanda White and today, you are getting three gift wrap ideas for the most common gifts that we learnt from her.

With Christmas coming up and a consciousness of trying to avoid difficult to recycle wrapping, its the perfect time to give these tips a go. So, what are we learning today? The three basics: giftcards, bottles (yes, the scary bottles), and boxes.

How to wrap giftcards

They are an easy gift – pick a shop they like, and they have the opportunity to pick whatever they like. But it does always seem a little thoughtless (when actually, the thought is to give then the chance to pick the perfect gift). If you wrap it the right way, it will look fantastic and show the effort you made.

We used pages of a colouring book (yes, the one you swore you would do a couple of years ago when they first came out and have only coloured in two pages). You could also use any other paper you find pretty. Why not use a page from a magazine if it’s a gift card for a clothes shop or for makeup?

These are simply pages folded into a bag, glued at the back and bottom (use double-sided tape for a neater look), and a ribbon to close it at the top. Simple, yet effective!

How to gift wrap boxes

Most items are in boxes or in squared shapes (books, dvds, perfume, makeup, some jewellery), and if it’s not, get a cardboard box and pop it inside! Wrapping paper around an object is the crucial and first step to gift wrapping. Even if you don’t feel confident enough to move away from your wrapping paper and bow yet, you can apply this method (and practice) with every gift you wrap.

Top tip: For it to look tidy, you need to remove as much excess paper as possible.

Step 1: Only cut off the paper you need. And there is an easy trick to measure it. You need enough paper to go once round the gift (with an inch or so to overlap (that you probably know.) As for the sides, you want to go just over half-way up the side of the present. That’s it. That easy.

And to really remove any excess paper, take a look at how Amanda finishes the sides:

Amanda shows us how to perfectly wrap a gift box in this video: 

How to wrap a bottle

Wrapping bottles is scary. Once you know how to do it though, it is less scary, but my oh my is it stressful. I felt tense all the way through with the pressure of making it look good and not to let go a moment too early.

Here are the basics of wrapping a bottle

Take cellophane and cut it so the sides easily reach the bottle neck. Layer it with tissue paper: two overlapping sheets are fine, even if it sticks out past the cellophane a little. Place the bottle in the middle and pull up two sides to the bottle neck (the straight ones, not diagonal, as I always did instinctively). And now starts the tense part: You need to add small creases, or pleats or folds, call it what you like, but pull on the top end of your paper whilst avoiding to pull on the tissue paper and risk tearing, so the paper starts hugging around the bottle. The skill is to make it tight, without ripping it, and not letting go until you have made your way all around. That’s when you grab a small ribbon and tie it tightly around the bottle neck to secure it. Once it’s secured, you can let go, breathe, get a shoulder massage and start decorating.

Take a look at how the pro did it:

But if you take a look at the Giftfrippery instagram you will see that it is just the beginning of what you can do with your gift wrapping. I am not in a place to tell you any more though, you may need to go and see the professional herself!

Happy wrapping!