Holiday Wrapping Ideas, Resources and Tips

Although the temperatures are barely cooling down (or warming up depending on which hemisphere you live in) like it or not, the holidays are coming, and coming fast. It’s time for those of us with shops to start preparing for the little details that will help us stand out this season.

As hectic as the season has become, shoppers are looking for ways to beat crowds, check off to do lists faster, and make the gift giving as easy as possible while still giving great, memorable gifts. I think we, as shop owners, can do a little something to fill this need.

One of the ways I am filling this need this season is to send all my items pre-gift wrapped. Now, this presents a unique problem because my, as well as most of your customers shop over the internet. They cannot see, feel or try on the items we sell prior to purchase. If I send their purchase pre-gift wrapped, how will they know the item is something they want to give? What if they want to see it first? I have decided to develop my wrapping style with this in mind.

As you can see from my picture, a gift does not have to be wrapped in paper to be gorgeous. I have made my packaging so that all that needs to be done if desired, is to untie the ribbon to see the item, and then tie it back. I plan to include instructions on how to tie the bow back (yes, men will need this).

The boxes I have decided to use are very heavy duty Kraft boxes from Uline.com. They come in so many shapes and sizes. I have larger boxes for my necklaces and smaller for the earrings. These boxes come with fiberfill pad already included. I keep this in as extra padding for my jewelry.

Inside I will be adding a piece of hot pink tissue paper. You can use any color you want. I would recommend cutting it to match the width of your boxes so that it can be slipped under the fiber fill, and it will fold nicely over your items. You can also purchase tissue paper in bulk from Uline.com

Etsy has so many wonderful graphic artists. I have purchased some designs from Lulydesign.esy.com to use as my jewelry cards. I feel they match my shop’s nostalgic elegant feel. She customized the size for me so that they would fit the larger boxes. The work is gorgeous and she had a fast turn around. Pre-printed scrapbook tag paper would also work nicely. Personally I like the look of the nostalgic prints better than using the printed cards. Although not all of my pieces are vintage, they have the look of vintage or nostalgic pieces and I feel the papers match my overall theme perfectly. You can figure out what works best for your shop.

In developing my packaging I felt it is important to create an overall look that is consistent that way there are no surprises when your customer receives their package. I have used a gorgeous satin ribbon in my signature color of sage green to tie a generous bow on the box. The sage green matches my banner in my shop as well as my business cards. A tip on cutting ribbon for a bow that I learned when working at Williams/Sonoma: Cut the ribbon five times the width and height of the box and it will be long enough to tie around with length enough for a full bow.

I have also included in the packaging a tag on the outside of the package. ! I am stamping the back of these tags with a “To: From: “ stamp I have and will slip it under the ribbon on the outside of the box.

I buy tags from the most wonderful shop on Etsy. Txbutterfly74.etsy.com. She uses nostalgic and vintage images to make hang tags. They are classic in shape, the images are clear and the tags are sturdy. Each has a complimentary color thread. Her tags are reasonably priced; you can get a dozen for less than $5.00. She also ships very quickly. I highly recommend her!!

Now, for product identification. Most people buying this holiday season will be buying for others. The recipient probably won’t know that their gift is a handmade item from your shop on Etsy. So how do you let them know these things without blatantly advertising in their gift? I have decided to do it subtly and with a look that fits the overall style. A few months back I had stickers designed by PaperJunkie514.etsy.com. These have my shop name; again, match my banner and business card in my signature sage green theme. Usually this sticker is front and center on the boxes I send, but since this is special gift wrap I want to keep this information secondary to the gift giver, but still have it present. . I am putting these stickers to identify my shop on the bottom of the box This way the information is available, yet subtle. I also won’t be sticking my business card in the gift package, but I will include it in the shipping box.

This gift wrapping is going to be standard for all my packaging from now until the end of December. This will streamline processing orders when the holiday rush starts. I won’t have to wait for convos saying yes or no, or if I don’t get a preference I won’t have to contact the buyer and wait for a reply. I’ll wrap it up and out it goes.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my little tour through gift wrapping and hope that I’ve given you some ideas and resources to spiff up your holiday packaging and make your packages very special for your customers.