(Photography: Phillip Castleton, styling: Nonci Nyoni)
Gift wrapping can feel like a festive challenge, especially when the present isn’t a simple box. Think plush toys, sporting gear, or oddly shaped stationery sets that refuse to fit neatly under the tree.
Luckily, our stylist Nonci Nyoni is here to save you from Christmas-wrapping embarrassment with three stylish, foolproof tutorials that make even the trickiest gifts look effortlessly chic. With her clever techniques, you’ll be wrapping like a pro in no time, with no awkward lumps or a last-minute gift bag required.
1. How to wrap a gift that makes people say WOW
First up is an easy, yet impressive gift wrap that’s perfect for slotting small gift tags inside. It looks neat, has sharp lines, and will sit pretty under your Christmas tree.
Easy steps to wrap an impressive present
- Place your gift in the centre of your wrapping paper and fold the top end over to cover about halfway on the gift (book or box), and tape this end down onto the gift.
- Fold in the paper on either side of the gift and firmly crease the triangle edges down on the bottom and top folds.
- Fold over the first top triangle paper fold from one side of your gift and firmly hold it down. Apply a small length of double-sided tape to the edge of your first fold and then fold over the second top triangle paper fold; these should cross over at the centre of the gift.
- Apply double-sided tape to the edge of the lower triangle paper fold on one side of the gift and fold this over and affix to your gift. Repeat this step with the second lower triangle paper fold.
- Lastly, fold in the base of your gift and tape this end down. Cut off any excess paper if there’s too much paper to fold in to create a neat fold!
- Insert your gift tag or card into the paper folds to finish off your gift!
Watch the full tutorial
Nonci’s tips!
- Create the perfect gift wrap pouch/pocket for your soft toy or irregular-shaped gift and top it off with this accordion-fold paper fan and a beautiful double-bow to make it look extra special!
- Choose your favourite Christmas pattern paper to get this look and a structured ribbon to achieve this bow.
2. How to wrap an awkward-shaped gift
This gift wrapping idea is for the presents that are a mission to make look nice. Plush toys, bottles, slippers, or blankets are just a few examples, but this nifty trick will make you look like a wrapping wizard in no time.
Easy steps to gift wrap a plush toy
- Cut a generous length of your desired gift wrapping paper and turn the paper horizontally/long-ways.
- Place your gift in the centre of the paper to measure how wide it is and how much to fold in the top and bottom edges of your paper into the centre of the length of paper.
- Use regular tape or double-sided tape to stick the top and bottom folds together, then turn your paper vertically.
- Measure the thickness of your gift against the base of your wrapping paper.
- Fold up the base of the paper and press firmly to define that edge.
- Open up the base of that fold and fold down again to create a square base, then fold this in again and tape down. You’ll have a six-edged shape now at the bottom of your gift-pouch/pocket.
- Open the opposite end of your gift pouch and insert your gift into the ’pocket’ and push it down to the bottom of the pouch.
- On the open end of the pouch, start to accordion-fold your wrapping paper, back and forth, until you reach the top of your gift in the bag.
- Make sure to firmly press the folds down to create sharp edges for a clean and well-defined finished look!
- Hold your finger on the middle of your accordion folds and tape or staple this down in the centre.
- Put a strip of double-sided tape on one side of the accordion fold tape and fold up both sides of the accordion folds to meet at the center and firmly press the double-sided end to the other. You should now have a fan-shaped top end of your gift pouch.
Creating your bow
- Cut 3 lengths of ribbon out. The longest is approximately double the length of the second strip, and the 3rd strip is half the length of the second.
- Fold over the furthest ends of the longest strip of ribbon to create two loops which form the base of the bow-shape. Fold over the second strip on itself to create a single loop and fix it to the first piece of ribbon. Lastly, take the last piece of ribbon and fold it over the centre of the ribbon loops to tie them altogether. You can staple or tape these together to keep the bow from coming undone.
- Affix the bow onto the front side of your gift pouch with an additional piece of double-sided tape. Trim the ends of your bow tails to create a sharp, clean, decorated finish!
Watch the full tutorial
Nonci’s tips!
- Create the perfect gift wrap pouch/pocket for your soft toy or irregularly shaped gift, then top it off with this accordion-fold paper fan and a beautiful double bow to make it look extra special!
- Choose your favourite Christmas pattern paper to get this look and a structured ribbon to achieve this bow.
3. How to wrap like a pro
It may look complex, but this wrapping technique is actually so easy to execute. You’ll look like a pro, and everyone will be asking you for the secret (or, they’ll hire you to wrap their gifts next year!)
Easy steps to wrapping a stylish present
- Place your gift in the centre of your wrapping paper, fold the top end over to cover about halfway down the gift (book or box), and tape it down.
- Fold in the paper on either side of the gift and firmly crease the triangle edges down on the top and bottom folds.
- Fold over the first top triangle paper fold from one side of your gift and firmly hold it down. Apply a small length of double-sided tape to the edge of your first fold and then fold over the second top triangle paper fold, and these should cross over at the centre of your gift.
- Apply double-sided tape to the centre part of your gift and fold up the bottom half of the wrapping paper to the centre and firmly press down.
- Fold in the paper on either side of the gift (now on the bottom half of your gift) and firmly crease the triangle edges down on the top and bottom folds.
- Fold over the top triangle paper-fold from one side of your gift and firmly hold it down. Apply a small length of double-sided tape to the edge of your first fold and then fold over the second top triangle paper-fold, and these should meet at the centre.
- Fold over the last triangle of paper from one side of the gift and then the triangle from the other side, and hold in place with double-sided tape.
- Affix your gift tag/card to the gift.
*Option: insert a short length of ribbon through the centre of the gift (as pictured in full DPS shot – not shown in video)
Watch the full tutorial
Nonci’s tips!
- Paper-fold your gifts to perfection with these simple steps – perfect for firm objects with a regular shape, for example, a book, boxed toy, and of course a box of chocolates!
- Use any of your favourite wrapping papers to achieve this look!
- Hot Tip: thicker paper allows a crisper edge fold without tearing!
