How to Wrap a Present

How many times have you had to wrap a present and thought, “Ugh, when I wrap something I can never get it to look nice.”  Well, using a few simple steps you can skip the gift bag and wrap a gift that looks “too pretty to open.”

Start with your gift and all of your wrapping materials. You’ll need: a box, scissors, tape, wrapping paper, ribbon and a card.

Next, line the box with tissue paper.  It is protects the gift from the box and it looks nice.

Now fold the gift to fit the box, place it inside and cover with tissue paper.

Measure out the wrapping paper so that it is long enough to wrap around the box and the extra on each end it as least the height of the box.

Wrap the paper around the box and secure with tape.

Here is where we pay attention to folding.  By doing so we create crisp corners.  On each side fold the center section in.

Press down on the edges of the top and bottom flaps.

Now press down the top flap and secure it down with small pieces of tape.

Fold in the top edge of the bottom flap and fold up. Secure with tape.

Turn the box over and you have a great base for decorations.  Following are three options for decorating the box.

Using a length of grosgrain ribbon, in a color that complements the paper, tie a simple bow.  By cutting the edges on an angle you can give it a professional look.

Another option can be achieved by using curling ribbon. First tie a length of ribbon around the box both lengthwise and width-wise. Then cut at least 12 pieces of ribbon to your desired length.  For this demonstration I used ribbon that is two and a half feet long. Now tie them around the ribbon surrounding your present.

To curl the ribbon take a section of ribbon and hold the side of the scissors next to the bottom of the ribbon and scrape the scissors against the ribbon as you pull up.

Here is a short demo.

Now do that for all remaining ribbons.

Next is our last option. You can add it to the curling ribbon spray or use it alone.

Using three small balloons, blow them up to about the same size.  Tie them together using a piece of curling ribbon.

Attach it to the ribbon surrounding the box and curl the ends.

Don’t forget the card! After all your hard work you’ll want to make sure they know who it’s from.