The Easy Way to Beautifully Wrap an Oddly-Shaped Gift

We have something that we need to get off of our chests: we love giving presents and sure do love receiving them, but when it comes to wrapping gifts, let’s just say that we would rather get a tooth drilled than have to tackle a living room full of unwrapped items.

We know, we know, quite the scandalous admission, especially coming from us. That said, we wouldn’t despise the chore so much if we only purchased perfectly cubed gifts—in fact, the whole thing sounds kind of “zen” in that case—but we all know that that never happens!

Because the holiday season is officially “on”, we decided that NOW is the time to tackle our gift-wrapping anxieties and truly master the art of wrapping any gift, no matter its shape or size. To help us in our journey, we sought advice from our friends over at OWN—or the “Oprah Winfrey Network” to you purists—and, unsurprisingly, ended up with a lot of sage advice.

How to be a gift-wrapping superhero

To get started on wrapping that awkward gift of yours, first gather together your materials. Of course, you will need plenty of high-quality wrapping paper. Now, we don’t say “high quality” because we’re trying to impose some sort of elitist viewpoint; simply put, the thicker stuff just works a heck of a lot better when faced with folding, bending, and twisting.

Got it? Good!

Once you’ve selected your paper, grab a long piece of baker’s twine, tape, tissue paper (if the object is hollow or fragile), ribbon, and, of course, scissors.

Start by first getting an accurate measurement of that oh-so-oddly-shaped gift. You can do this by wrapping the baker’s twine around the widest part of the gift. More often than not, the hardest presents to wrap are round in shape, so if yours fits this mold, drape it around the circumference of the circle.

Next, using your “ruler” — a.k.a. baker’s twine — slice off a chunk of paper to size for a snug fit. From there, stuff any particularly fragile opening that the gift may have with tissue paper. No one wants to receive a broken present, right?

Pro tip: if the entire gift is breakable, go ahead and wrap the whole thing with tissue before you even think about reaching for that wrapping paper.

Once you’ve finished your prep, go ahead and place the gift in the middle of the sheet of wrapping paper. Fold one of the paper’s edges around the center, secure with a small piece of tape, and carefully drag the item out of the cylinder’s open side.

Are you following us so far? OK, great!

Hey, even if you’re not, we don’t entirely blame you. While this wrapping hack is easy enough to execute on your own, it really needs to be seen with your own eyes first. To become the gift wrapping master you were always meant to be, be sure to watch the video below. You’ll be tackling that living room full of awkward presents in no time!

We’d love to hear your take on this tried and true gift wrapping method. Have you ever tried this before? If so, do you have any advice to give to newbies? Do you have a wrapping secret of your own that you would like to share?