That's a Wrap

Anyone who knows me knows I love to giftwrap. Whether it's for birthdays or baby showers, I find it's one of my favourite things to do, and kind of my dream job (read my dream job column on Man Repeller, here).

Christmas time is wonderful for so many reasons, but as an avid gift-wrapper, I love that I get to wrap so many presents at this time of year. Below are a few of my secrets for perfectly wrapped presents.

1. Collect your Best Boxes - The photo above is of boxes I collected over the course of 2015, knowing what great gift boxes each of them would make come Christmas time. I'm not one for hoarding, but when I come across a perfectly-sized, perfectly shaped box, I have to hold onto it until the end of the year, as it could very well end up being the perfect vessel for a loved one's Christmas gift.

Boxing items up, especially oddly shaped items, really simplifies the wrapping process, which is great if you’re like me, and not a huge fan of gift bags; I love seeing my nearest and dearest peel back the wrapping paper on a much-desired gift.

2. Choose a Colour Scheme - At Christmas time, I give out more gifts than I would at any other time of year, so I love to coordinate wrapping, and create a colour scheme for all of the parcels I'm going to be giving. I usually go for a deep red, and brown paper wrapping, with sprigs of pine, for a classic Christmas feel, but this year I wanted to do things a little differently. I chose a solid pinkish-red hue and a few different silver patterns for my wrapping papers, along with some satin silver ribbons to tie it all together (literally).

3. Turn on the Tunes - I could never do my Christmas wrapping without Christmas music playing in the background! To start, I threw on Bing Crosby's Christmas album - an all-time fave - and opened a sea salt hazelnut chocolate tablet to, you know...keep me energized while gift-wrapping...

4. Peel off those Price Tags - It's never tasteful to reveal how much you spent on someone's gift. After all, it really is the thought that counts, and you never want someone to feel uncomfortable learning that they spent more or less on you, than you did on them. Be sure to remove all price tags from items you're gifting before wrapping them. If the price is printed directly on the item, as is the case with books like this one, use a black permanent marker to cross out the price.

5. Begin Wrapping on a Flat Surface - While my ultimate dream is to have a gift-wrapping room in my house, I'm a long way away from that wish, so I wrap at my writing desk. It's important to wrap on a flat surface, to achieve straight lines when cutting and folding. It also prevents your gifts from jumbling around inside their boxes, if they're lying flat while they're being wrapped, or waiting to be wrapped.

6. Lay Each Gifts' Groundwork - Before boxing up your gifts to wrap them, be sure to fill the base of the box with tissue paper, so that your gift doesn't slide around too much, after it's wrapped. White tissue paper works perfectly for this part of the process.

7. Cover with Colour - Once you've placed the gift in its tissue-filled box, cover it with some colourful tissue paper, so that the top is covered and the lid of the box fits snuggly.

8. Measure your Gifts - Nothing is worse than cutting a piece of wrapping paper that's just a little too small for the present you're wrapping, or cutting one that kind of works, but then leaves you with loads of excess paper to tuck away in a not-so-subtle way. One way to prevent wasting wrapping paper is to measure your gifts as you wrap them. You'll need half of a box's width + its depth to cover one side of the box in wrapping paper, so measure the amount of wrapping paper you'll need before cutting it from the roll. After you've cut the wrapping paper, try lightly folding the paper around the parcel, without creasing it, to make sure you've cut the right amount of paper, before taking the plunge and wrapping up the gift.

9. After wrapping your boxes in paper and taping all those corners as crisply as possible (there's so many ways of doing this, and it tends to be different based on the shape of the box you're wrapping), it's always nice to pull things together with some satin ribbon. I opted for a classic silver shade to go with my colour scheme this year.

10. Tag and Tree - So as not to detract from the pretty bows, I tend to put my to/from tags on the back of the wrapped presents. After tagging each one, I do like the man in the red suit, and deliver my presents to the base of that big green Christmas tree.

Do you have any pro wrapping tips? - Feel free to share in the comments section! Merry Christmas!

#Christmas #Wrapping #Giftwrapping #Holiday #2015