Christmas Gift Wrapping Ideas: Measure, Wrap, Recycle

The short answer: cut paper that goes around the box plus a couple of inches and reaches two-thirds of the way up each end. Anything more gives you lumpy corners. Pick one ribbon color for every present under the tree, and match it to the tree's metal. Use cloth for odd shapes. When it's over, plain paper usually recycles. Foil, glitter, ribbon and bows usually go in the garbage.

Presents arrive under the tree in the second week of December and stay until the 25th. For that whole stretch they are the largest single patch of color in the room, sitting right at the base of the thing everyone looks at. Most people buy wrapping paper one roll at a time and get a pile that looks like four households' worth. A little planning turns the same money into a finished look. If the tree itself is still undecided, our Christmas tree guide covers height, lights and ornaments. This page starts where that one stops.

Pick One Scheme for the Whole Pile

The rule that does the most work is this: the ribbon is the constant, the paper can vary. Four or five different papers tied with one ribbon read as a set. Four papers with four ribbons read as clutter. The cover photo shows it: burlap, two champagne papers and a pink watercolor print, held together because the ribbon on all of them is the same soft gold.

Take the ribbon color from the tree. A tree with brass and gold ornaments gets gold, champagne or deep red ribbon. A tree dressed in silver gets silver, white or ice blue. Then choose papers with one shared feature, such as all matte, all solid or all one family of color, and use a patterned paper for no more than a third of the gifts.

Two more points that change the look more than any paper does. Wrap the big boxes plainly. A large box in a busy print takes over the whole pile, so keep prints for the small gifts and give the big ones a solid. Write the tags in one hand and one pen. Mismatched store-bought tags are what make a coordinated pile look accidental again. Our budget Christmas decor guide has the same thinking for the rest of the room: one bought material, used everywhere, beats many small purchases.

How to Wrap a Box Without Bulky Ends

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Bulky, many-layered ends almost always come from cutting too much paper. Hallmark's step-by-step guide to wrapping a present gives two measurements that solve it:

1. Width: lay the box on the back of the paper and cut so that the paper "will reach just 2/3 up each side of the box" at the two ends.
2. Length: the piece must be "long enough to go around all four sides, plus a couple inches for overlap."

As a formula, for a box of length L, width W and height H: around = 2 × (W + H) + about 2 inches, and across = L + about 1⅓ × H. The two-inch overlap is our reading of "a couple inches"; the rest is Hallmark's rule turned into arithmetic.

Check the "across" figure against your roll before cutting. If the roll isn't wide enough, turn the box ninety degrees on the paper, or wrap that one in cloth.

Then the sequence. Fold under the visible edge of the overlap by half an inch so no raw cut shows, and tape it on the center line of the bottom, not the top. Fold the ends in: sides first, top flap down, bottom flap up. Crease each fold with a thumbnail before taping. Double-sided tape under the folds gives a finish with no tape on show. Wrap the ribbon on the box straight from the roll and tie the bow there before you cut, and you'll never come up two inches short.

Odd Shapes, Bottles and Cloth Wraps

Anything that isn't a box is easier in cloth than paper. In Japan the standard answer is the furoshiki, a square of fabric knotted around the gift. Japan's Ministry of the Environment has promoted it as a waste-saving wrap; its report on the furoshiki study group describes furoshiki as "easily storable, light, washable, reusable, and environmentally friendly" and says it can wrap and carry items of many different shapes.

Sizes, according to Wikipedia's furoshiki entry, run from 45 × 45 cm (18 × 18 in) and 70 × 70 cm (28 × 28 in) up to about 100 × 100 cm, and "the gift should fit into one third of a furoshiki." In practice:

• A bottle of wine or oil: a 28-inch square, the bottle laid diagonally, rolled and the two ends knotted at the neck.
• A book, a candle or a jar: an 18-inch square, the four corners tied in two knots on top.
• A tea towel, a scarf or a napkin set used as the wrap is a gift in itself, and ends up in the kitchen drawer instead of the bin.

A cloth wrap also fits the decor rules above: a stack of gifts in two or three linen or cotton colors under a tree is about as calm as a pile of presents gets.

Under the Tree: Building the Pile

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• Big at the back, small at the front. Lean the largest boxes against the tree skirt at the back and step down toward the room, the way you would stand a group of people for a photo.
• Show a few decoys early. Real presents trickle in, so the pile looks thin on December 10th. Two or three empty boxes wrapped in the scheme hold the space and come out again next year. Lit gift boxes, like the ones in the photo above, do the same job and add light at floor level.
• Leave a path. Keep a clear strip to the tree's water dish or stand so it can be topped up without unpacking the pile. Watering and how fast a cut tree dries out are in our Christmas tree guide.
• Keep the pile away from the hearth. Paper and ribbon stacked against a fireplace that's in use is the wrong place for them. The rest of the room around a working fire is in our cozy Christmas living room guide, and the mantel above it in our Christmas mantel guide.

After the Unwrapping: What Recycles

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Holidays fill the bins. The EPA, in a 2009 release, put it this way: "the volume of household waste in the United States generally increases 25 percent between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day." Wrapping is a visible part of that, and the choice is made at the store, not in December.

What usually goes in the recycling: plain paper wrap, kraft paper, tissue, and cardboard boxes. What usually doesn't: Portland, Oregon's holiday sorting guide lists "Foil or glitter-covered wrapping paper and gift bags" under garbage, along with ribbon, string lights and cords. These are called "tanglers" because they wind themselves around the sorting machines. Recycle Coach's gift-wrap guide adds that "Ribbons and bows are not accepted for recycling at most recycling centers," and that many wrapping papers carry shiny coatings, plastic linings or glitter that make them unrecyclable.

Not sure about a paper? Worcestershire County Council in England recommends the scrunch test: crumple it into a ball, and "if the paper remains in a ball" it is paper-based. If it springs back, plastic is mixed in. It's a good home check, but your own city's list is what counts. Rules differ from one hauler to the next.

And one thing never to do: put it in the fireplace. Missouri's Division of Fire Safety, in its holiday fire safety tips, says: "Do not burn Christmas tree branches, treated wood, or wrapping paper in a home fireplace."

Which turns the planning around. If you choose kraft or plain matte paper, cotton or velvet ribbon you keep, and cloth for the awkward shapes, most of the pile either recycles or goes back in the box for next year. Wired ribbon and velvet bows survive several Christmases if they're rolled, not crushed, and stored with the ornaments and the rest of the decorations.

The Short Version

• Paper: around the box plus a couple of inches, across so it reaches two-thirds up each end. Less paper means neater ends.
• One ribbon color for the whole pile, taken from the tree's metal. Papers can vary; the ribbon can't.
• Prints on small gifts, solids on big ones. One handwriting on every tag.
• Odd shapes go in cloth. An 18-inch square for books and jars, 28 inches for a bottle.
• Plain paper usually recycles. Foil, glitter, ribbon and bows usually don't. Your city's list decides.
• Never burn wrapping paper in the fireplace.