How to nail the art of festive gift wrap.

I’ve been really trying hard this festive season to get my gift wrap game on point. I often start off full of all good intentions with neatness and aplomb, but then as my gift wrapping is often a nocturnal activity once the kids have gone to bed, a small glass of vino might be involved, and my skill set takes a slight tumble. So this season I thought I’d employ some basic wrapping tricks to ensure a stylish vibe.

1. First up gather all your essential wrapping ingredients in one place – think rolls of wrapping and ribbon which all have a complimentary theme so you can mix and match as you go, scissors and sellotape. Find somewhere that has a large flat surface – kitchen or dining room table or the floor.

2. Roll out your paper and place your gift in the centre, allowing enough paper to cover the item front and back while allowing a little extra for folding. Cut the paper larger than the pressie you are wrapping and flip the pressie upside down so that when you wrap, the seams will be on the bottom. Fix one end of the wrapping to the box or gift to secure your start point.

It’s always easier to wrap a standard box rather than a weirdy shape, so if you’ve shopped your gift online and it arrives in a box, maybe hang on to that box (once you’ve taken all the excess mailing packaging away) and keep it to gift your present in.

3. Pull the paper taut over the rest of the gift and secure at the middle seam.

4. To fix the ends press the top down creating side wings. Make neat creases in them before folding them in towards each other and pulling the bottom side of the wrapping up to secure in place. Creasing all the side seams adds a nice crisp touch to your package.

5. Measure your ribbon to work around the package and add finishing touches of embellishment for a little extra festive bling.

6. Finish up with personalised gift tags and place under your tree.

We sourced all of our gift wrapping from The White Company for this shoot – you can shop their fab Chrimbo collection by clicking the links below.

For more ideas on festive gifting take a peek at our gift guides from the drop down menu on our front page here.