How to wrap your Christmas gifts

Christmas is a time of generosity and sharing beautiful moments with the people you care about. For many, this also includes carefully chosen Christmas gifts. Giving a Christmas present can be a truly special moment, and a festive wrapping that has had extra time and attention put into it only heightens the sense of anticipation, both for the recipient and the giver. We’re happy to share a few simple tips to help elevate your Christmas gifts and fill the space under the Christmas tree with beautifully wrapped, unique presents.

Start at the beginning, which is, of course, your wrapping paper. Make sure the wrapping paper is just long enough to cover the entire gift, leaving an extra margin of about 5 cm. Cover the sides of the gift up to three-quarters, both at the top and bottom, so you get a nice overlap. If you use too much paper, you won’t be able to smooth it out neatly, and it will quickly look messy.

Pro tip: instead of wrapping paper, you can also use other materials to wrap your gift festively. Browse thrift stores for textile Christmas napkins, embroidered with holiday prints, and reuse them to wrap your presents. Tie a festive ribbon around it, and you’re done! Or choose a large jacquard-woven tea towel with a fun pattern to wrap your gift in a sustainable way.

Place your gift upside down in the center of the wrapping paper. Now fold the first half of the paper towards the center of the gift and secure it with single-sided tape. Use several small pieces of tape spread across the entire bottom to prevent the paper from pulling at one point and tearing. Fold the edge of the loose side of the wrapping paper inward, smooth the crease well, and tape it to the inside with single-sided tape.

Carefully pull the wrapping paper around the gift and wrap it as tightly as possible. Secure the edge on the inside with double-sided tape so that no tape is visible on the outside. Now fold the sides inward and attach them to the gift with small pieces of tape. Then fold the other corners of the sides inward and secure them to the inside with double-sided tape.

Pro tip: if you have festive tape with a fun Christmas print, use it to create patterns on the gift. You can lay strips of tape across the entire width and length of the gift, overlapping them to form a beautiful geometric pattern, either in the center of the gift or just in the corners.

Once the gift is completely covered with wrapping paper or a cheerful Christmas tea towel, it’s time to decorate it. For example, choose a festive velvet ribbon and tie it into a beautiful bow on top of the gift. If your wrapping paper has a busy pattern, a large solid-colored bow brings calm and balance. If you’ve chosen simpler paper, you can make the gift extra festive with small decorations. For instance, tuck small sprigs of pine or holly under the bow and secure them with double-sided tape. Or pick a flat porcelain Christmas ornament and tie its ribbon to the bow, or go for tiny jingle bells that tinkle cheerfully when the gift is handed over.

Pro tip: cut out fun illustrations or photos from old magazines and stick them onto the wrapping paper as extra decoration, or laminate them and use them as original name tags. In that case, attach a piece of plain-colored paper to the back of the illustration and write the recipient’s name on it before laminating.