Christmas Tips #2 - Ten Tips To Wrap Your Presents Beautifully

I love spending time choosing Christmas presents. I spend hours at my desk surfing the Internet for the best Christmas gifts I can find - no Christmas present suggestion tool goes unused.

The area that used to really let me down was my wrapping. It looks like someone with severe hand-eye co-ordination problems had tried to wrap them.

So here's my tips for having a great Christmas - wrapping your presents:

1) Think ahead - often my problem was that I'd buy all the presents in one go and I'd get loads of them so I'd have to sit down in and wrap them all in an afternoon and I'd get fed-up and loose interest - especially when I had odd-shaped presents to wrap. So buy different people's presents at a time and you'll have to wrap fewer presents at a time.

2) Get good wrapping paper - if you get good quality wrapping paper it won't tear as you're wrapping. Cheap rubbish from the market or the supermarket will often be very thing and tear very easily. I'm not saying you have to get all your wrapping paper from Marks And Spencer , just buy the middle of the range wrapping paper at least.

3) Choose relevant wrapping paper - you could get a couple if different patterns for each person, but try and make them appeal the the person you're buying for. It may sound obvious, however, many people give the cheap wrapping paper with Victorian scenes to their 5 year old niece and bright pink fairy wrapping paper to their 80 year old grandma. Christmas, in my mind, is all about that moment where they've got the present in their hand and try and guess what it is - the excitement and the expectation that they have a gift that someone had spent time finding, preparing and lovingly wrapping is the essence of Christmas.

4) Decorate the Christmas present lovingly. Many shops such as WH Smiths as well as the supermarkets and highstreet shops have a good selection of ribbons and bows. Think what wrapping paper you've got and try and find the bows and ribbons to match - it all adds up in terms of cost, but it'll look great.

5) Use the right tools! There is nothing worse than using blunt scissors to cut your wrapping paper - it'll only lead to frustration. Make sure you've got a great pair of scissors.

6) Don't be lazy and not cut the wrapping paper. Place your gift on the wrapping paper and gently pull the pieces around the present to check how much paper you'll need. Then cut the paper leaving yourself a couple of inches to spare on each side. Try and make it that it'll look semetrical in terms of the folds on each side. Also make sure you fold the flaps on each side so they're very flat.

7) Don't be sellotape-happy! My problem in the past is that I don't like sellotape. I'll get it everywhere. Sometimes I'll cut a load of strips off first and stick them to the desk ready for use. As I go through the day I'd get bored with that and just cut them off the roll whilst the present unwravells itself. By far the best way is to cut sections of sellotape and stick them gently to a surface that won't come of on the sellotape itself - a plate for instance.

8) Use a paperweight - when it comes to actually sticking the flaps down try using a paperweight to hold them down whilst you size up where to put the sellotape? It really does help!

9) Don't forget to use a label! If you've got good wrapping paper it'll be a nightmare to write on it with any kind of Biro of felt-tip pen. Get your self some tags or sticky labels. These are so much easier. Just make sure you don't write a bulk load and forget which present should have which label on!

10) Store your presents properly! If you've spent time wrapping the presents so they're beautiful and goregeous don't waste that by piling the presents on top of each other on the end of a bed or desk - they'll fall off and dent or tear the wrapping paper. So don't be enthused about finishing wrapping a present and through them around the room.

So buy some good quality Christmas wrapping paper, get the right tools, take your time and take care - then you'll have a fantastic Christmas present opening session!

So where can you buy wrapping paper online?

1) Yellow Moon - a great website for crafty and Christmassy stuff - they've got a good selection of wrapping paper, labels, boxes, tags and more.

2) Natural Collection - They have a good range of recycled wrapping paper and tags. If you wanted to help save the planet then consider recycled wrapping paper.