To give someone a neatly wrapped present makes you look talented and your gift look more carefully chosen. It's very simple to make a good impression. All you have to do is to be gentle, and patient.
Step 1
Remove all price tags. There's nothing more annoying than investing your careful efforts into a gift only to realize you forgot to take the price sticker off. If you cannot remove the sticker, get a black pen and black out the price. You can also use a piece of tape if you put one end on the tag and pull it off, the price sticker will usually come with it. You don't want the person to see that you bought his electric shaver from the clearance shelf, now do you?
Step 2
Put the gift in a box, if it isn't in one already. This optional step will make the gift easier to wrap. If your box will easily come apart (like a shirt-box), be sure to use a little tape to keep it from opening during the wrapping process. Use only as much as necessary to keep it from coming apart, but not so much that the person will need a machete to open it.
Step 3
Unroll a length of wrapping paper onto a hard sturdy surface.
Step 4
Place the gift on the wrapping paper and measure how much paper will be needed. Make sure you have enough paper to go around the box once and that the width leaves extra on each side. It's a good idea to have a small amount more than you need so that the wrapping paper overlaps.
Step 5
Mark your cut lines, especially if cutting in straight lines is difficult for you. Use a straight edge (like a ruler) or you can fold neatly along the line you will need to cut along, unfold, and cut along the fold. Put the rest of the roll aside.
Step 6
Place the gift or box upside down in the middle of your paper.
Step 7
Fold the paper around the gift. On the horizontal side of the paper, take one side and fold it over to the bottom of your gift. Then take the other side, folding it over, too. Now is where you need that extra inch. Take the longer side and fold it under so that you have a nice smooth crease instead of jagged cutting. Put it on top of the other end and pull it tight. Then tape together.
Step 8
Fold one side of the box at a time. On one end of your package, fold the corners in so you have kind of like a triangle. Fold the straight end over, then pull it to the top of your package. Tape. Repeat on the other side.
Step 9
Add ribbon. Make sure your ribbon is long enough and can go around the gift in whatever pattern you decide. Put the ribbon on top of the gift. Wrap it to bottom and turn the gift 90 degrees so that the ribbon comes up the sides. Tie a bow on top and get your scissors. Pull one of the sides of ribbon and curl it using the scissors. With all the spare ribbon, cut it and then tie it under the bow, cut in half and curl again, do so until there is no un-curled ribbon.
Step 10
Add a card. Take the index card. Write to and from, name, etc. If you are good at calligraphy, this makes a beautiful personal touch. If not, you could either type it or write it neatly. If you have lousy handwriting, and no to/from cards or stickers, you can cut a square of coordinating wrapping paper, fold it into a "card", and tape it in place. You could also neatly cut out an element of the wrapping paper design (like a snowflake, a balloon, etc.) and turn it into a card. Tape this about an inch or two from the corner of the box.
Tips
To create a nearly seamless look, try the following:
- Use double-sided tape instead of regular tape.
- Arrange the seam of the largest paper fold - the one that initially wraps around the gift - so that it is on the edge or side of the gift. This works best when you use a box. To start: Tape the paper in place about 1/4" from one of the box side edges. The paper should wrap all the way around. If you haven't cut the paper from the roll yet, cut it now leaving at least a 1/4" for the fold. Then fold the excess under to create the clean finished edge. Use the double-sided tape to secure not only the fold to the inside but then the fold to the package. The seam will be almost unseen.
Don't have wrapping paper? For an informal and fun look, the colorful comics section from your Sunday newspaper is surprisingly good. Also, copied musical scores (especially from appropriate musical pieces) look good, too. 
If using a box, you can also slightly pinch all the edges of the package to give it a nice crisp, clean look - very professional. 
After your gift is wildly received, dispose of gift wrap, ribbon, and boxes in a environmentally-friendly way. Be sure to recycle cardboard after removing as much tape as possible. Most shiny gift-wrap and ribbon is not recyclable--ideally choose ones that are or are printed on plain (not glossy) paper. Raffia (available in most craft stores) is a biodegradable ribbon substitute that is a bit harder to work with, but also looks lovely. - Go ahead and pull of as many pieces of tape as you think you will need and stick them to the edge of the table. Even better: a weighted tape dispenser, the kind you find on a secretary's desk, will leave one of your hands free to hold your gift wrap securely when you reach for a piece of tape.
- A stapler and craft ribbon are useful for creating the sturdiest bows.
- Clear postal tape is the best for wrapping gifts that are going through the mail, or that will be wrapped far in advance.
- Secure ready-made bows to the gift with tape or with staples, because the adhesive on ready-made bows never sticks well!
- Tie, tape or staple curling ribbon on under the bow. You can leave strands of ribbon hanging and curl them by running scissors along the length of the ribbon. Don't cut yourself!!
- For a round shaped gift: place the gift in the center of the paper, pull paper together up above it, folding over the raw edge and secure each end of the paper with long pieces of ribbon, firecracker-style and curl the ends of the ribbons.
Warnings
- Do NOT burn gift-wrapping in your fireplace, wood-stove, or burn pile. The chemicals released from burning the wrapping can be nasty.
- During gift-giving occasions, be careful with used ribbon. Pets (especially cats) may play with and try to eat ribbon. Ribbon can be especially harmful to a cat's digestive system .
- If you are flying to, from, or within the United States, be aware that you should not try to bring wrapped presents through security.
Things You'll Need
- Gift
- Wrapping paper
- Scissors
- Tape (regular and/or double-sided)
- Curling ribbon
- Card
- A box (if you don't already have one)
- Straight edge/yard stick/ruler
