How to Wrap Odd Shaped Gifts Without Losing Your Mind
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To wrap an odd shaped gift, do one of five things: box it first, roll and twist the ends, gather the paper upward and tie it, wrap it in fabric, or skip paper entirely and use a bag. Flat paper wants flat planes, so the goal is either to give the gift straight edges or to stop pretending it has any.
There is a specific kind of despair that comes from trying to wrap a stuffed giraffe. You have the paper, you have the tape, you have a shape with no discernible front, and twenty minutes later you have something that looks like a crumpled bandage.
I have done this to a bicycle helmet, a houseplant, and a very large candle, and I am here to report that brute force does not work.
What works is picking the right approach for the shape. Here are the five that cover basically everything.
Approach One: Box It First
The most reliable answer, and the one people skip because it feels like cheating. It is not cheating. Professional gift wrapping does this constantly.
Put the awkward object in a box, pad it if it rattles, then wrap the box like a normal rectangle. The All Seasons Gift Box Set gives you three sizes, 5 by 7.5 by 2 inches, 8 by 10.5 by 2, and 9 by 14 by 2, all heavy cardstock that ships flat and collapses for storage.
The bonus is that the boxes are patterned themselves, so if you want to skip the paper entirely you can just add a ribbon and be done.
Approach Two: Roll and Twist
For cylinders. Candles, bottles, tubes, rolled posters, anything that keeps a consistent round cross-section.
Lay the object on the paper with plenty of overhang at each end. Roll it up like a sweet wrapper, tape the long seam, then twist each end and tie with ribbon or a strip of washi tape. It looks deliberate rather than improvised, which is the entire goal.
Give yourself more overhang than you think. Skimpy ends look sad.
Approach Three: Gather and Tie
For blobs. Stuffed animals, balls, bags of things, anything genuinely shapeless.
Put the object in the middle of a large sheet, bring all four corners up to meet above it, and tie the gathered paper with ribbon. You get a little pouch shape, which is honest about the fact that the gift is not a rectangle.
Use a sheet larger than feels necessary. A 20 by 29 inch sheet handles most medium blobs, and the wrapping paper collection comes as rolls of two of those.
Approach Four: Wrap It in Fabric
This is my favorite and the most forgiving, because fabric bends where paper creases.
A tea towel at 19.5 by 27.5 inches wraps a bottle, a jar, a plant pot, or a bundle of small things beautifully. Lay it flat, place the gift in the center, bring the corners up, knot two pairs. It is a technique borrowed from furoshiki and it takes about forty seconds.
The other advantage is that the wrapping is now part of the gift. Nobody throws away a linen tea towel.
Garden Bed Tea Towel and Blue Moon Tea Towel are both a good size and pattern for this.
Approach Five: Stop Fighting It and Use a Bag
Some gifts are simply not going to be wrapped, and that is fine.
Anything with a handle, anything fragile, anything you would need to disassemble. Put it in a gift bag with colored tissue and a tied-on tag, and put the effort you saved into the finish instead.
Pirouette Gift Bag at 13 by 9.6 by 4.5 inches handles most awkward mid-sized objects.
Which Approach Should You Use?
| Shape | Best approach |
|---|---|
| Bottle or candle | Roll and twist, or fabric |
| Stuffed animal or soft blob | Gather and tie |
| Ball or sphere | Gather and tie, or box it |
| Anything with a handle | Gift bag |
| Fragile or breakable | Box it first |
| Plant or pot | Fabric wrap |
| Several small unboxed items | Box it, or gift bag |
Pick the Method, Not the Fight
Almost every wrapping disaster comes from choosing the wrong method for the shape and then persevering. Ninety seconds spent deciding saves twenty minutes of tape and swearing.
Stock up on wrapping paper, gift bags, and a couple of tea towels, and you will have an answer for whatever shape turns up.
For more, read Wrap a Gift in a Tea Towel: Reusable Fabric Gift Wrap, Gift Bag or Wrapping Paper: Which One Should You Use?, and How Much Wrapping Paper Do You Need Per Gift?.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you wrap a round gift?
Gather and tie. Set the gift in the center of a large sheet, bring all four corners up to meet above it, and tie the gathered paper with ribbon. For cylinders like bottles and candles, roll the paper around and twist both ends instead.
How do you wrap a gift with no box?
Either give it a box first, or use the gather-and-tie method with a sheet larger than you think you need. Fabric works even better than paper here, since it bends around shapes that would crease flat paper.
What is the easiest way to wrap an awkward gift?
A gift bag with colored tissue and a tied-on tag. There is no shame in it, and a well-finished bag looks better than a badly wrapped odd shape. Put the effort into the tag and the tissue instead.
Can you wrap a gift in a tea towel?
Yes. Lay the towel flat, place the gift in the center, bring the corners up and knot two pairs. A 19.5 by 27.5 inch tea towel handles bottles, jars, and small bundles, and the wrapping becomes part of the gift.
What size wrapping paper sheet do I need for an odd shape?
Bigger than for an equivalent box, because gathering and twisting eat length. Each roll here holds two matte sheets at 20 by 29 inches, which covers most medium irregular gifts using the gather-and-tie method.