You Got This is a series that spotlights the gear you need to improve one area of your life.
If your holiday presents always look like your five-year old cousin wrapped them, you’re not alone. Gift-wrapping is a fine art, but it’s one that you can indeed master. Just pour yourself a mug of nog, grab a few wrapping essentials from Walmart, and follow these tips.
Make some space
First up, you need a good, clean space for your packages and wrapping tools. You could spread out on your living room floor, but dog hairs stuck under clear tape aren’t a great addition to the holiday experience. A better idea is to get this foldable six-foot table. When you’re done wrapping, use it for doing puzzles.
Run with new scissors
To nail that pro look, you want the edges of your wrapping paper to have clean cuts — no tugging or little tears. You could sharpen those gummy scissors you found in the miscellaneous drawer, but it’s easier to get new ones. This stainless pair makes the cut.
Master the two-sided tape
When taping the edges of your paper, here’s a handy trick: Stick a piece of double-sided clear tape on the inside of one edge, and then press the two edges together for an invisible — and impressive — seam. No more shiny little squares of tape all over the place.
Credit: Scotch
Put a bow on it
Now that you’re (hopefully) getting the hang of it, you can play with different paper styles and bow situations. This stylish wrapping ensemble comes with four rolls of argyle, chevron, and plaid paper, plus matching bows and gift tags. Go ahead, get crazy with it.
Credit: American Greetings
Bag it up
Sometimes even the slickest wrapping skills aren’t good enough for odd-shaped gifts, like out- of-package vintage action figures. The solution? Coddle the item in tissue paper first, slip it into one of these holly-themed mini bags, and softly pull the extra tissue up over the edges.
Credit: Papyrus
Whistle while you wrap
Crank the holiday music or heavy metal — whatever keeps you going. This portable Bluetooth speaker will help you keep your wrapping stride. You’ve got 10 hours on the rechargeable battery. Hopefully, it won’t take that long to wrap things up.
Credit: Jbl
