We know it’s the thought that counts but presents are about presentation too. Cheap wrapping paper always looks, well, cheap but giving your gifts a touch of class doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Not when you do it yourself. It just takes a little ingenuity and imagination. Here are our top ten tips to get you started but before you know it, you could find you have a real gift for it.
 First buy yourself some brown paper. It’s inexpensive and it makes a great base for your creativity.- Invest in some acrylic paints. These come in all sorts of exciting colours and finishes, including iridescent, pearlescent and metallic.
- Spuds we like. Remember making potato prints when you were a kid? It’s time to revive the old skills. Slice a nice firm tuber in half, draw your design on it in felt tip pen and then cut out the surrounding areas to leave the design. Cover this with acrylic paint and press firmly onto the paper. Repeat to form a pattern.
- Stencils. Simple stencils can be cut out of card. For anything more complicated, it’s better to use acetate. Unlike potatoes, of course, you can keep these and use them again and again.
- Recycle, recycle, recycle. Everything from junk mail to last year’s calendar, redundant maps to old comic books can be reused, so think twice before you chuck. Imagine a present for a music lover wrapped in old sheet music or a collage of magazine images for a star-struck adolescent. Even old newspapers have their uses and don’t have to look like something the fish and chips came in.
 Make it personal. For something you’d never be able to buy in the shops, try including pictures of the lucky recipient into the design of the wrapping paper. - Discover your artistic side. Try using a toothbrush to splatter paint onto plain paper for the Jackson Pollock look. Steam the labels off soup cans for a ready-made Andy Warhol. Browse through art books and let your imagination run wild.
- Think outside the box. Who says wrapping has to be paper? Be adventurous. Try using fabric, whether it’s off-cuts from a dressmaking project or unwanted old clothes. You could even knit some gift-wrap (if you don’t knit, see our ‘getting started’ article).
- Don’t forget the tags. However you created your wrapping paper, remember to make some matching gift tags at the same time. It adds that thought-through, professional look.
- The finishing touches. Pom poms, ribbons – there are so many ways to add those pretty details that make a gift look extra special.
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