Gifting

Packing Your Gift Boxes to Keep Them Protected

With Christmas just three weeks away, the clock is officially against all those who procrastinated their gift buying and wrapping. If I had to wager what percentage of people put this stuff off up until this point, I would say a solid 60% still haven’t begun to buy gifts yet. (But perhaps that percentage is estimated to be so high because I happen to be one of those people and I’m just trying to make myself feel better about putting it all off up until this point.)

Since it’s so close, though, I felt it was appropriate to talk about choosing the right materials to box your gifts in. Of course, if you want to put a small pen in a large box to throw someone off or wrap a video game inside a bundle of shirts to make your younger cousin think they’re “only getting clothes”, by all means do it.

Nonetheless, check out these tips for getting your gifts wrapped in a way that will make them almost completely unidentifiable to your recipients.

Choose the right box

There’s no need to have a box that can barely fit your item in it (like you may want if you were to ship a gift). But you still want it to have little room to move around in for the sake of protecting its contents. I like to dig into my stash of cheap moving boxes and select a few that are durable and have enough room to fit my gifts. Don’t worry if you don’t have any cheap moving boxes of your own. You can buy cardboard boxes for super cheap or even ask a dollar store if they have any cardboard in the back.

Use a filler

A lot of people only do this for gift bags or boxes they’ll be shipping. I’m here to tell you that all holiday gifts benefit from a filler, even if it’s just light tissue paper or newspaper. Since every family has kids running around picking things up, it’s best to be safe than sorry. My suggestion is to get some filler paper from your local store in order to save money but still have something clean and nice looking within the gift box.

Use the right tape

When you need your tape to come through is when you’re likely low on it or your wrapping job needs work. We like using packaging tape for wrapping simply because it’s super adhesive, super strong, and it’s always clear. More tape isn’t always better if it shows or compromises the strength of the wrapping paper. Do your gifts justice and use higher quality tape.