To wrap a present, cut a sheet that goes around the box with 2 inches to spare and reaches two-thirds of the way up each end. Tape one long edge to the box and fold the other over it. At each end, press the sides in, fold the top down and the bottom up. Eight drawings below show every fold.
Updated by the Frugal Santa elves
Lay the paper pattern side down and set the box upside down in the middle, so the seam ends up on the bottom. Measure before you cut. The paper should go around the box with about 2 inches (5 cm) to overlap, and stick out past each end by about two-thirds of the box's height. Too little and the ends gape open; too much and they fold into thick, lumpy wads.
Tape the first long edge straight onto the box so nothing slides. Fold the raw edge of the second side under by half an inch for a clean line, pull it snug and tape it over the first. Then do the ends: press the sides in so they crease into triangles, fold the top flap down and fold the bottom flap up over it. Tape it, turn the box around and repeat. Double-sided tape under the last flap hides every piece.
Wrap the paper loosely around the box. You want 2 inches of overlap, and about two-thirds of the box's height past each end.
Cut along a ruler, or along the grid if your paper has one on the back. A straight edge makes a neat seam.
Set the box upside down in the middle. Bring one long side up and tape it straight onto the box.
Fold the raw edge under by half an inch. Pull it snug over the first edge and tape it.
At one end, push the two sides in with your fingers. They crease into neat triangles.
Fold the top flap down over the end and press the crease hard with your thumbnail.
Fold its edge under, bring it up over the top flap and tape it. Then do the other end.
Turn it right side up. Tie a ribbon both ways, add a bow and a tag, and it's ready for the tree.
Measure the box's length, width and height. The paper goes around the box once, so one side of the sheet is twice the width plus twice the height, plus 2 inches (5 cm) to overlap. The other side is the box's length plus two-thirds of its height at each end. For a 15 × 10 × 2 inch shirt box, that's a sheet of 26 × 18 inches.
The calculator does that math both ways around the box, rounds up to a whole inch or centimeter, and checks the sheet against your roll. Christmas rolls at one big US store in October 2026 came 30 or 40 inches wide and held 25 to 220 square feet, so pick the one you have and it tells you how many boxes of your size it will wrap. A 30-inch roll of 50 square feet wraps about 13 shirt boxes. It also gives the cloth size if you'd rather wrap in fabric.
Cut a sheet
26 × 18 in
Roll anything round. Lay a bottle or a candle jar on its side, roll the paper around it with a 2-inch overlap and tape the seam. Fold the paper flat across the bottom and tape it, then gather the extra at the top and tie it tight with ribbon or string. Wrap glass in a layer of tissue first.
Soft gifts go in a tube. Fold a sweater or a blanket into a firm rectangle, wrap the paper around it and tape the seam, so you have a tube open at both ends. Flatten each end, fold the edge over twice to hide the cut and tape it down. A new pillowcase works too: gather the top and wrap a ribbon around it three times before you tie the bow.
For a round tin, wrap the side like a bottle, then fold the top into small pleats that all point to the middle. Hide the center under a round sticker.
Roll it in paper with a 2-inch overlap, fold the bottom flat and tape it, then gather the top and tie it with ribbon.
Fold it into a firm rectangle. Roll the paper into a tube around it, flatten each end and fold it over twice.
Wrap the side like a bottle. Then fold the paper on top into small pleats toward the middle and cover the center with a sticker.
Let something else hold the paper. The easiest swap is cloth: a square of fabric knotted on top needs no tape at all, and the fabric wrap below shows how. With paper, fold the long seam with a hem and set it on the bottom of the box, where the weight of the gift holds it shut.
At each end, press the sides in, fold the top down and the bottom up, as in steps 5 to 7, and hold the flaps with your thumbs. Then tie twine or ribbon around the box both ways and pull it snug. The loop that runs the long way crosses both ends and pins every flap flat, and a tag tucked under the knot finishes it.
For soft gifts, a pillowcase gathered at the top and tied with ribbon works just as well. Paper with no tape on it also comes off in one piece, so you can fold it up and use it again next year.
Japanese department stores wrap boxes on the diagonal, a style called naname tsutsumi, or the department store wrap. The box rolls across the paper as you fold, so the wrap needs only one to three small pieces of tape.
Lay the paper pattern side down. Set the box on it upside down and turned at an angle, with three corners on the paper and the fourth just past the near edge. To check the size, fold the far side of the paper over the box. If it covers the box with about 1.5 inches (3 to 4 cm) to spare on the left and right, the sheet is big enough.
Then bring the near edge up over the box, fold in the left side and roll the box over onto the paper. Fold in the right side, roll it once more, and lay the last corner over the top. One piece of tape holds it. Try it on an empty box first.
A furoshiki is a square cloth used in Japan for wrapping and carrying things. The name means "bath spread": it comes from cloths spread out at bathhouses hundreds of years ago. In 2006, Japan's environment minister, Yuriko Koike, promoted furoshiki as a reusable swap for plastic and paper bags.
To size the cloth, measure the longest side of the gift. The cloth's diagonal should be about three times that, so a 10-inch box wants a cloth about 21 inches square. Common sizes run 45 to 50 cm, 68 to 70 cm, and 90 to 110 cm.
The basic wrap takes a minute. Set the gift in the middle with a corner pointing at you. Bring the near and far corners together over the top. Cross the left and right corners behind the gift, bring them to the front and tie them in a square knot. A scarf, a bandana or a tea towel works the same way, and the wrapping becomes a second gift.
| Cloth | Good for |
|---|---|
| 45 to 50 cm (18 to 20 in) | Small gifts, books |
| 68 to 70 cm (27 in) | Wine bottles, shoes, clothes |
| 90 to 110 cm (35 to 43 in) | Big boxes, bulky gifts |
Start with plain brown kraft paper. A roll costs little, and it takes paint, crayon and a printed tag. Tie it with red-and-white twine and tuck a sprig of pine from the tree under the knot. Let kids decorate a few sheets the night before with potato stamps or handprints. Comics pages, an old map or sheet music wrap small gifts with a story, and one ribbon color across the whole pile makes mixed papers look planned.
Wrapping makes a lot of trash. The EPA estimated in 2009 that US household waste rises about 25% between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. Before the paper goes out on December 26, try the scrunch test that UK recycling groups suggest: crumple a piece in your hand. If it stays in a ball, it's likely plain paper. If it springs back, it probably has plastic or foil in it, and glitter paper is a problem too. Rules differ by city, so check yours.
The top. Wrap the box upside down so the seam and the taped end flaps end up on the bottom, then turn it over for the ribbon.
Turn the box the other way first: the calculator checks both. If it's still short, try the diagonal wrap, or tape two pieces together and keep the join on the bottom of the box.
Use double-sided tape under the folded edges, so nothing shows on the outside. Fold each raw edge under before you tape it for a clean line.
Put it in a small box so the shape gives nothing away, or roll it inside a paper tube and tie the ends. If you'd like a gift with nothing to wrap at all, gift minutes with Santa come as a card with a code you print or send as a link.
Cover it with a flat sheet or a tablecloth tied at the bottom, or skip the paper: a big bow and a tag do the job. For Santa's gifts, see the tips on Santa gift tags.
Families do it both ways. The Christmas gift rules cover which gifts Santa brings and whether to wrap them, and Santa gift tags shows how to make his look different from yours.
Pack the wrapped gift inside a shipping box with padding, so the paper arrives in one piece, and check the Christmas shipping deadlines before you send it.
The story goes that the elves wrap them in the workshop, with miles of twine. You can ask Santa yourself on a live video call with Santa, or read how calling Santa works first.
Live videoStill deciding what goes in the boxes? Tell Santa your wishes on a live video call and get each one back with store prices, lowest first. $1 a minute.
Call Santa
