5 Tips for Wrapping a Pretty Present

I love wrapping up pretty present, but I'm the first to admit I don't always take the time to wrap them and end up using gift bags stuffed with tissue. But honestly I love wrapping a pretty present and seeing my children's face light up when they unwrap their gift. Plus wrapping gifts, verses buying gift bags is much more

affordable

. Use the extra money you save on buying all this gift bags and spend it on gifts! With Christmas just around the corner, I wanted to share my five tips for wrapping a pretty present. 

1.

Good Wrapping Paper is Key

. The better wrapping paper you use, the easier it will be to wrap your present vs. cheap paper that will tear when wrapping. The gold and white wrapping paper is from

Sugar & Paper LA 

and is super thick and such a good quality, it made wrapping presents super easy. Also stuff the inside of the box with tissue paper, it makes unwrapping the gift so much fun!

2.

Use fabric ribbon or twine to finish off your present

. Buying pre-made ribbon & bows is more expensive than buying fabric ribbon, plus making your own bows look so much prettier! 

3.

Take your time

. There's nothing worse than being on a time crunch and you have 20 presents that need wrapping and its midnight Christmas Eve, I know because I've been there. It sucks, don't make the same mistake. When you set aside a weekend of two before Christmas to wrap presents it makes the entire process more fun. When I wrap presents, I usually do them in the evening while watching Christmas movies. 

4.

Solid Wrapping Surface & Good Tape

. Wrap gifts on a solid surface such as a desk or dining room table. A large working space ensures your able to create nice creases in the paper to tightly wrap each gift. Also good tape is key!

5.

Use various Ribbon Sizes & Go for Contrast

. For Smaller wrapped gifts, oversize ribbon has huge impact. On larger size presents use a small to medium size ribbon. This year when buying wrapping paper, I choose to go with white and gold paper and went bright turquoise ribbon for high contrast. I love how the turquoise pops against the gold paper. I also added cute gift tags to each present to help make them feel polished, vs using sticker labels. 

Quick Tip on Bows, when using oversize ribbon, first wrap the present with the ribbon, and then tie a bow and hot gun the bow on the ribbon. It really creates a polished look, like on the present above.

I hope these tips help you this Holiday season in wrapping pretty presents, and saving those coins and not spending extra on a bunch of gift bags! When do you start wrapping presents during the Holidays? 

Still in need of some gift ideas? I've created a several Modern Holiday Gift Guides:

His + Her

,

Preschoolers

,

Teenagers

,

Stocking Stuffers

and

My Favorites

 (filled with lots of goodies!)