OK, so I might be over-selling it slightly with that post title BUT I do love looking at wrapping paper ideas and working out what I can put together myself. I like the gifts I am giving to not only be extra special for that person but to also be presented with a bit of care and fuss.

However, I am quite hard on myself (as I think we all can be) and I want my wrapping paper to be perfect and well, sometimes, it just doesn’t meet my exacting standards. But (and hopefully it is true what they say) as they say: it is the thought that counts.

And I have lots of thoughts about wrapping paper ideas. My old, trusted, faithful way of wrapping a gift is with craft paper. You know the kind I mean, brown paper that you can buy from the post office to post a parcel with. I like it as it is firstly easy to wrap any shape or size gift and it won’t rip (I know you feel me on those cheap wrapping papers you buy), secondly it is a perfect foil for extra decoration. This decoration might be pom poms (I love a red pom pom at Christmas) or washi tape.

I will admit I am a recent convert to washi tape but it is good. I like that I can use it instead of sellotape if I choose, but I like it even better as a non-fiddly (I am not a fan of those plastic ribbons you can curl – mine never do) way to decorate a gift.

Here are a few wrapping paper ideas I created (thanks to Pinterest) for Christmas:

Washi tape for the wrapping paper idea win

For my chocolate-loving friend Lara Page’s birthday last August I also pushed the boat out with some washi tape and an upcycled box (I think it counts as upcycled anyway). I’d previously subscribed to My Little Box (which might feature as a post in the future) and as I can’t bear to throw anything away I had kept the boxes they had sent. With a lick of bog-standard white paint they were ready to be decorated to add that little bit of extra fuss to the present:

As you can see I decorated the front of the box with washi tape and then simply took a black biro to draw some flames and low and behold some candles appeared! If you have a look at my Pinterest board you can see where I got this inspiration from.

I’ve also actually placed the presents (lucky they were quite little) in balloons and although I can’t find where I found the original idea (sorry) I can tell you I watched this YouTube video from Sunburst Gifts to help me out (and help they did).

Hopefully the above are a few interesting (dare I say useful) wrapping paper ideas to add that extra little something to whoever you are gifting. I am always after inspiration so please feel free to leave me a comment below, or drop me a tweet with some more wrapping paper ideas.