The Gift Wrapping Book

This had quite a few excellent ideas and some that I will definitely be looking to do this Christmas. The images are clear and easy to follow. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Well-photographed ideas. A good book for those looking to expand their gift-wrapping skills and think outside the box. Experienced paper crafters will recognize many of the included techniques. The two pages of instructions for basic techniques such as stamping, use of bleach, and wax resist will be beneficial to all paper crafters. . The eVersion didn't seem to include titles of styles or required materials (though veteran paper crafters will recognize the types of products needed for projects. Hence, minus a star. Five stars for presentation. There are other books on the market about gift wrapping but Dover publications are always a good value.

The Gift Wrapping Book is full of great, innovative, creative and beautiful ways to wrap gifts. It features ideas for all occasions including holidays, birthdays, romantic and specialty gifts. There are ideas on how to make your won gift wrap and how to hand make bows. I love the personalized and special feel the homemade patterns give. This book teaches what papers work best for what gifts. I really liked the section on how to re-purpose boxes, even make your own boxes and how to make them unique. My favorite party are the "how-to" sections. It also teaches how to hand make gift bags, including paper and fabric! This book teaches exactly how to wrap a gift. There is a section on envelope making. Through each new tutorial there are step by step pictures and many examples. There are many many unique ideas in this book. I would love to have a physical copy.

I love learning how it is all properly done, I don't know what I've been doing all these years.

This is a reprint of a classic. We have had three copies in our library system for years, and they circulate well and the content is still very relevant.

This is an approachable, thorough guide to both the basic, intermediate and advance forms of gift wrapping. No previous experience is necessary to begin using these techniques to improve your wrapping skills.

After reading this book, you should be able to successfully wrap oddly shaped packages, make your own bows, boxes, cards and bags, and up-cycle materials around your house to make gorgeous and original wrapped gifts.

This is a valuable reference to have around the house. The only downside is that there were no new additions to the original edition.

What a great little find just before the holidays!
With chapters ranging from packaging incorporating natural wraps to Hi-tech wraps to romantic wraps, how to make boxes or repurpose old boxes to even making the bows, this is a great guide to overall wrapping. Included is a suggestion of tools and materials which is always helpful.
The colour photos are beautiful and the instructions and tips easily understandable. Using bubble wrap as a stamp or to cover items instead of protecting them was a new one for me! The more experienced crafter will have dealt with most of the advice, but for those looking for a little inspiration, there are some great ideas. I would have loved the book to be a little longer with perhaps more projects but felt that the inclusion of box templates as well as advice on creating the decoration on the paper itself was a fantastic idea.

This is a great book for non-creative people like me, and also for more creative people who can probably take these designs to a higher level. It’s definitely a great, basic book for beginner wrappers and anyone who wants to put some extra effort into their gifts.

It gives the very basics of wrapping, even for round boxes. Some basic ideas of how to create and design your own paper, and a great section on all different types of bows and ties. There are many examples for recycling materials, and using items such as corrugated cardboard, bubble wrap and newspaper.

My favorite section was on creating your own gift boxes, and I really loved the design of the self-closing box. There are templates for the boxes in the back of the book as well as several of the stencil designs to copy.

I would give this to anyone from a creative child to a crafty adult. It is definitely a pretty comprehensive book about wrapping and has quite a lot of great examples and ideas. I am only giving it four stars though because I wasn’t really blown away by any of the designs. However for a beginner – medium level wrapper this is 100% a great book to have.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dover Publications for allowing me an advance copy for review.

The Gift Wrapping Book is a really great book to look at especially right now with Christmas coming up in a couple of weeks! The thing about this book is that it shows you how to wrap a package in an easy simple way, but still make the job look good, to the more detailed job, and there are some really great ideas here. I never knew that tissue paper can be used as an outer cover for a gift without getting torn, but this book shows you how to add paper to the tissue paper to make it sturdy enough to do so.

The book has step by step directions that are easy to follow, and when you are through, I know in my case anyway, it looked so good that I did not want to unwrap the gift- the wrapping was too perfect. The book shows you different was to make a bow, and I do not mean just a regular bow, I mean fancy bows. There was a section that showed how to make your own gift tags, by either painting, or gluing on different decorations, just totally cool stuff. There are so many tips you will never go back to just folding the paper and taping it in place again-at least I know I won't! Here is an example-"If your chosen paper is too lightweight, line it with another paper while still flat, using spray adhesive. Allow it to dry thoroughly. Even a delicate tissue paper can be extremely strong if used together with wall lining paper".

Another tip is to always fold on a hard surface and take care the paper is aligned. Accurate folding is particularly important, especially in the early folds. So no matter what you use or how you use it, if you follow a few guidelines you will have the best looking wrapped gifts in town! The sky is the limit!

I really liked and learned a lot of useful information from this book, and plan to buy it in print form, so I will always be able to go back and use this book as a reference to start from.

I gave this book 4****stars and strongly recommend it to everyone!

A very nice book with some great instructions on not only the wrapping of your presents but also paper types and ribbons and how to make boxes and bags

I thought I was good at gift-wrapping and that my creative skills made my finished packages look very good. Then I read this book!
With detailed info on papers trimmings and box-making, we find how-to guides for wrapping all manner of items and make them appealing for a range of recipients.
Full colour and templates ensure this is a great book.

After wrapping Christmas presents for three children for many years, I had lost my technique for nicely wrapped presents and instead had learned a quick dash assembly line kind of wrapping. Now that I have more time, I wanted to re-learn my old skills and so I was happy to try this book out. Turns out, I not only picked up my old skills but learned a few new techniques as well.

In addition to wrapping instructions, the book tells you how to make various boxes, bags, and other ways to “wrap” your present to get a unique presentation. It is giving me fantastic ideas of how to recycle a lot of things that I have around the house and make them beautiful and useful again.

I received a digital ARC copy of this book from the publisher, Dover Publications , via Netgalley.

Especially with the biggest gift season underway I was really looking forward to reviewing this book. But alas the review copy is sketchy and missing instructions (not sure if there should be any written notes but the review copy was entirely pictures. The pictures are lovely to look at and give some pretty wrapping options so if that is what you are looking for then this book will fill your needs.
However I was hoping to learn how to wrap those very odd shaped gift items that don't fit any box know to man kind and there were scant examples of that included. If you are looking to decorate gifts than THE GIFT WRAPPING BOOK by Caroline Birkett will provide some beautiful ideas.

This close to Christmas, I couldn't help myself when I saw this book available on NetGalley. Wrapping presents is a favorite pastime when I actually have time to manage it (and not just stick everything in dollar-store bags Christmas Eve, which...happens more than I should probably admit), so anything that offers to be useful on that front wasn't going to be passed by.

The book was quite useful in that regard. I enjoyed the different suggestions on how to wrap differently shaped objects (stupid round things have always gotten me!) as well as the more generalized tips, some of which seem like common sense (Wrap on a hard surface to get crisp lines!) once you hear them. I've spent my entire life wrapping presents on the floor. It really explains a lot.

There are a crop of interesting ideas here, so if you're interested in stepping up your wrapping game, this is a nice selection of thoughts on the process. I'll probably be making a few of my own boxes and trying out some of the other suggestions from this for my Christmas presents this year. It'll add a special touch to make the wrapping paper I wrap something I made in, I feel.

This is a good resource for those of us who kind of want our presents to be pretty under the tree, and yet never quite manage it.

This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A great book of ideas and tips for those interested in wrapping gifts with more than a simple bow.

Despite my love of buying and wrapping presents, the sad, undeniable fact is that I am unable to wrap them. No matter how hard I try, my patience wears thin at my imperfection, lack of ability to cut in a straight line, and difficulty in getting a piece of tape down flat.

When I saw The Gift Wrapping Book, I knew that it was for me and it didn’t disappoint. It not only gave templates, it gave ideas on choosing the right paper, how to wrap the most seemingly difficult presents and also ideas on wrapping ‘outside of the box’ (insert guffaw here).

I’m not sure if this would be a good gift book (might insinuate your helplessness at wrapping) but it’s definitely a good resource book and one that I’ll revisit time and time again, whether I’m stuck on ideas or just flat out irritated at my lack of gift wrapping abilities.

INITIAL THOUGHTS So like most people (if they're being 100% honest) I believe we can all use a little help with how to wrap gifts, especially if they are an awkward size, or shape! So I was looking forward to reading this one. I did actually read it when I was about half way through my Christmas Gift wrapping, I just didn't have time to write the review until now.

MY REVIEW I received a free e-copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. The cover features some brightly, beautifully wrapped gifts. . . just waiting to be handed out to the recipients! So I was eager to learn how I could make my gifts look as good as the ones on the cover. So would the cover make me pick this book up from the shelf? Yes, it would, the gifts on the cover are rather impressively wrapped.
There are quite a few pictures within the book, as well as small boxes with extra tips within them. There are also some "How To Do" photographs that walk you through the whole process step by step.
I love an attractively wrapped gift with perhaps a striking bow or other ornamentation on it too. I readily admit to getting all tangled and usually stuck up with the tape when I am wrapping and as for putting ribbons and fancy bows on, I've normally had enough of the whole wrapping process by the time the last piece of tape has finally been wrestled into place!
I found the book quite inspirational and I enjoyed the step by step photographs showing how to do things. Maybe it's because I was reviewing an e-copy but I feel I must say I was disappointed by how the book appeared on my tablet and kindle. Having pointed that out I think having the paperback would obviously solve this problem! I think it is a book you would probably purchase for yourself though I'm not sure I would pay very expensive for such a book myself, though I think if you want really prettily wrapped gifts you would probably find the book a useful book to keep going back to, especially for a gift that was an awkward shape!
Did I enjoy the book? It was informative, just not as much as I had hoped, and in my opinion the formatting of the e-copy seriously let the book down and spoilt the experience for me.
Would I recommend the book? I would yes, but to be bought as a physical book!

FINAL THOUGHTS This book would be a bit of a luxury purchase for me, though it would sit on my book shelves and probably be referred to regularly.
Includes how to make pretty bows from ribbons or paper. Plenty of step by step pics to follow, good job as very little text descriptions. Some useful parts in Tips sections. Sadly format was pretty poor as I attempted to read via kindle app on my tablet. This would probably work much better as a glossy paperback!

This is a perfect book for our local 4-H Gift Wrapping Project. This book will give you the basics and also provide you with great ideas. I will recommend this book not only for my library but also for any 4-H club.

They thought of everything! I especially liked the bubble wrap and making your own boxes sections.

We all give presents but how many of us fail miserably when it comes to the wrapping? All too often we resort to popping the gift into a shop bought gift bag or box. Present wrapping is something we are just expected to be able to do. There have been countless times I’ve ended up having to throw away ruined wrapping paper and there have been too many fights with sticky tape, just finding the end of the roll can be a nightmare. However, a beautifully wrapped present can be a real joy to receive, even before you’ve seen what’s under the paper or in the box.

Understanding the various wrapping techniques, the range of materials available and the tools needed for the jobs can turn a necessary chore into something enjoyable, creative, and we can produce something special and personal for the recipient.

“The Gift Wrapping Book” is ideal both for those who haven’t a clue how to wrap a present and for those who are keen to try something a little different.

The book is well laid out and with clear photos and step by step instructions. Caroline starts by showing the correct way of wrapping a box with standard wrapping paper and then goes on to suggest how this could be done with other types of paper. We find out how to produce our own decorative paper using methods such as wax resist, gilding, stamping etc and then more elaborate bows and embellishments with gift tags and other items. Patterns and templates are included together with information on the materials and tools required. Importantly, she explains how to wrap those awkward shape parcels we all have problems with.

Caroline makes it clear that wrapping doesn’t need to be elaborate, doesn’t need to take a long time to prepare so long as it is neat and thoughtfully put together. However, with an understanding of some basic techniques and a little imagination there are no limits as to how fantastic your presents can look. Just make sure that the actual present under all that wrapping is worth receiving!

The best publications from Dover Books have a good combination of style and practicality. This book may not be as lavishly laid out and photographed as books by some publishing houses and magazines but here the results are attainable. This book, which seems to have been previously published by another company in 2002, will not date as it gives good clear instructions on how to develop gift wrapping skills. There may be more fashionable coffee-table style books of this type around but this may very well be the one to consider purchasing.

Very fun & clever ideas for ways to wrap gifts!

Great creative ideas for wrapping gifts beautifully!