Gift Wrapping Ideas: Surface That’s Not Superficial

What is so special about receiving gifts? Surely, it has to do with the joy of knowing that someone cares about you, that you mean something to those people. While this deeper, human-relational meaning of gifts is quite significant, we should not overlook the surface.

To better understand the context of gift-giving and the excitement that arises from it, perhaps we should think of the most excellent gift receivers of all: children. In their case, it’s not the realization of their position in relation with someone that accounts for the happiness they feel, it’s something much simpler: the surprise element. It’s not just that a gift is something unexpected, it’s also the emotion of unwrapping and opening a box when they don’t know what’s inside.

As far as that is concerned, few things change with age. Grown-ups can feel the same enjoyment when they have a wrapped gift in front of them -- the common cliché of opening a box only to find a smaller box inside of it is meant to underline the suspense you can create by not revealing the gift right away.

It should now be obvious that the way you wrap the gift is like the icing on the cake. It’s the first visual contact with the present, so it’s worth paying attention to. The way a gift is wrapped is an indication of how much time you spent preparing it, and therefore, of how much time you thought the recipient was worth. Don’t spoil a wonderful gift by wrapping it in a haphazard way. Instead, consider some gift wrapping ideas.

Ideally, you should match the presentation with the gift, the occasion, and the recipient. That takes some skills, of course. If you’re not very confident in your wrapping talent, you can have the gift wrapped at the shop, though most of the times the recipient will be able to recognize professional wrapping due to its rather standard aspect. But if you pay attention to what the person at the shop does, you’ll soon be able to wrap gifts in a similar way, and even to come up with a more creative wrapping. Remember: surface is not always superficial.

To make your gift wrapping special, you can wrap it in different ways, using different styles. You must have observed that most of us pack the gifts by using the simple wrapping papers. Use gift bags instead of gift wrapping paper. Gift bags come in different shapes, sizes and colors. You can wrap the gift and put it in a gift bag and then decorate the bag from the outside.

In case you don’t want to use a gift bag, you can wrap the gift and then use ribbons, bows, glitter and beads to make it look nice. Tissue of different colors can also be used. You can also go the natural way, and decorate the wrapping paper using flowers or pine cones. Stickers or some funny or interesting cut-outs from newspaper or magazines can be used and pasted on the wrapping paper to make it interesting and different. Or how about this: instead of using gift wrapping paper, wrap the gift in a piece of fabric and then paint or decorate the fabric in the recipient’s favorite color.

When you wrap a gift, make sure that the wrapping reflects your emotions towards the recipient. Wrapping has to be taken care of because if it is perfect then even a simple gift will appear as if it were a masterpiece. It will look appealing to the recipient and will make him or her feel good and special. It will show your love and affection. So next time, before giving a gift to someone, take out that extra time, follow the gift wrapping ideas mentioned here, and make sure that your present is wrapped up in style.