Gift Wrapping

Hello. Today’s blog will be about wrapping Christmas gifts. I am not the most talented wrapper, but I can get the job done. Again, this is a blog for the beginning blind person. I decided to write this particular blog because gift-giving season is upon us, and also because wrapping gifts is one of those things I never had anyone else to teach me. Therefore, I had to learn it on my own.
First, you need a gift to give someone, or you need an empty box you can practice with. For your first attempt at wrapping, I would use a box that is closed on all of it’s sides so that it resembles a cube or rectangle shape. Later, you can advance to boxes that are partially open or other irregular items.
First, you will need to cut the paper. Usually wrapping paper that has never been used will have a piece of tape holding it together. Some wrapping paper will also have some sort of paper surrounding it that you may also need to remove. It may feel like plastic-baggish material. I do not have any here in front of me, and so that is all the explanation I can provide because that step is so automatic for me that I really just slide it off without paying much attention to it. Once tape or plastic has been removed, unroll some of the paper so that the portion that is unrolled stretches out away from you and the roll itself is closest to your body. Place your gift on top of the paper. This will hold the paper straight so it does not curl up on you. Now, you should be able to unwrap the roll better. The roll will be in a horizontal position, meaning it will stretch out to your left and right. To unwrap more paper from the roll, pull the roll toward you. Slide the gift closer to the roll. Your goal is to judge the far side of the paper until you feel there is enough to cover the far side of the gift and the top half of it. You can test this by bringing the paper up and onto the top of the gift. Don’t get all nervous wondering if it is exactly half. It only needs to be approximate. How you will know you have enough is that you will lift the roll with the paper up in the same manner so that the roll is lying on top of the gift. In other words, you are unrolling it and then placing it on top of the gift to see if it covers the paper you bring up from the far side. If you do this so that the far side and the roll side are both over the gift, you will know to stop rolling when the roll slightly covers the far side. Then, be sure to hold the roll so that the paper does not roll out further or roll in with one hand, and use the other hand to remove the gift to a different spot. This is why I recommend the floor for your first try or you might just have a chair or something you can place the gift on with one hand.
Now, it is time to cut the paper. What I do is to roll out another inch or so of the paper by bringing the roll toward me after I have placed it flat on the work area. Then, lift the roll without rolling out any additional paper and move it toward the far side of the paper until about, say, two inches of paper is between you and the roll. When lifting, you are actually kind of making the paper to feel the same as if you had folded a sheet of paper in half and were going to crease it. The difference is that we are not folding this roll in half; we are only allowing enough paper in between the roll and our body to allow us to make a crease. To make this crease, place your finger in about the center of the roll and firmly press the paper as you move your finger toward your body. Then, use this finger to slide toward the left or right end and then continue in the opposite direction. Note if you have never folded a paper, it would be easier to practice making creases with a regular sheet of paper first to develop this skill. On a sheet of paper, you would lie the paper so that it is in front of you as if you were going to read it, meaning it is narrower from side to side. Then, simply take the edge closest to your body and match it with the far edge. Then, you would put a finger in the center of this paper and slide it back until you reached the circular part. Then, to make the crease, you would slide your finger to the far left, and then the far right, or you would slide it to the right and then to the left, depending on your preference. I always go right then left. Anyway, back to our wrapping, this crease you have just created will be used as a guide so that you can cut straight across the paper. Again, I said about two inches, but remember this is only a guess. You may need slightly more or less paper, and when you roll out the paper, you will need to think of about how much of this paper you will need.
The reason for this creasemaking is that it will produce a tactile line for you to use as a guide as you cut the paper. It is easier to feel this crease if you turn the paper over, but I sometimes do it on this side. Once you are more experienced, you will decide this matter for yourself, but for now, turn the paper over. It is okay if you need to roll out more of the paper once the crease has been formed. Once you are finished cutting, you can simply roll it back closed. When cutting, I use my pointer finger as a guide. For the purposes of this blog, I will assume that you know how to safely use scissors and that you know how to use the finger on one hand to guide you by placing your pointer finger at the tip of the scissors and using your other fingers to help you stay straight on this line. If not, you will need to practice cutting. Cutting and paper folding skills are really necessary skills to learn prior to gift wrapping, and so if you need to learn these skills, you will want to do so before wrapping the gift. Your option right now, if you do not have these skills, is to ask a family member or friend to cut the exact size of paper you will need for you. Again, this blog is for informational purposes only. Remember that I am not responsible for injuries, loss of wasted paper, etc. My only goal is to provide you with ideas about how to do things as a blind person.
Once your paper is cut, it will be time to again place your gift in the center of the paper. Remember you will need to turn your paper back over so that the outside will be the correct side. You’ll need to repeat the above steps now because you will want to make sure that there is not too much paper on either end of the gift while wrapping. Keep in mind that cutting again may not be necessary. First, make sure the near and far edge still cover each other slightly. Then, check the ends to see if there is too little or too much paper to cover the end of the gift. If there is too much, you will need to once again cut the paper. The first step is to somehow determine how much is extra. Perhaps, you could use a piece of tape to mark this for you, being sure that the tape is on the portion that will be cut off. Then, you could make another crease to use a guide for cutting off this end of the paper. This blog is for beginners, and so I will not address what to do if there is too little paper at this time.
To wrap the gift, place the paper so that it’s white side is up. When cutting, you will need to keep track of which side of the paper is facing the ceiling or work surface so that you will know which side is the white side. Now, place the gift in the center of the paper, making sure to pay attention to how it should be placed based on how you cut the paper. In other words, when you bring up the sides, there should be a slight overlap in the center. If you bring up the far and near sides, there should be a slight overlap in the center. What you will now do is to bring up the side of the paper nearest your body and place it over the gift. Use your finger to hold it down in the center of the box. With the other hand, make sure that it aligns pretty much evenly with the paper on the floor. These edges of the paper will not be touching, but they should be so that neither extends out to the left or right farther than the other. Remember to feel the side of the box closes to your body to make sure the paper here is nice and flat and wrinkle free. Then, using one piece of tape, tape this piece to the box so that it will stay for you. You will be getting your tape onehanded here because the other is holding the paper in place. Now, bring the other side of the paper up. Again, make sure it matches the end. This will be slightly easier because you will have the other piece of paper that has already been taped as a guide so that the ends can match up more evenly. Place a piece of tape in about the center to hold this piece up. Remember before taping to check the far side of the box and the top of the box to make sure the paper is smooth. Now, you should also place a piece of tape on either end, but not flush with the sides. Try about a half inch to an inch in.
Now, it’s time for the sides. Remember that consistency is the key here. I always like to first fold the top side since that is where the edge of the paper is because folding it can help hide that edge, but if you decide differently, be consistent. The first end is the hardest to fold. You are going to again make creases here. You want to form a trianglularish figure here. I say it that way because the end may end up being a straight edge with two corners instead of an exact point like a triangle would be. To begin this triangle, you will need to take your thumbs and fingers and form the paper into this shape. My thumbs are on top of the gift, and my fingers extend down to the sides, but they rest on the side of the paper, and not the box. My thumbs generally stay still as I use my fingers to roll the paper in until it is far enough in toward my other hand that I can crease the edge leading from the point of the gift out to the end of the triangle where this point or line will be formed. Note that I am doing both sets of fingers at once here. Once I make this crease, I generally put one piece of tape over the point or straight edge so that it sticks to the box. Then, I can choose to repeat these steps with the other end of the box or to turn the gift over and form the triangles on this side. This backside is where you want to be more neat because your handywork will show here. A point at the end of the triangle is wonderful, but too much paper may result in this not occurring. In this case, you will want to fold the end that would form this point so that the straight edge is formed. I will stop explaining here because you may already be confused. The best way to learn this skill is to use a model. That means feeling a gift that has already been wrapped. It also means unwrapping the gift neatly piece by piece so that you can examine how it is put together. So have someone wrap up several empty boxes for you so you can examine what a wrapped gift would feel like so you can practice. Or, have a friend wrap a gift or several with you, allowing you to feel each time she has completed a fold or placed a piece of tape on the gift.
One final note here is to remember that wrapping a gift has a lot of steps and can seem overwhelming. You may focus on folding regular paper first. Then, you may choose to focus on cutting. Worrying about the white side being up may be something you don’t worry about until you have the art of wrapping down. In fact, wrapping with a precut piece of paper that fits your gift may be an excellent first step. Or, wrapping pretend gifts so that color does not matter at first may be helpful.
The reason I did not write a blog last week is because I was going to present this one. With finals looming ahead, I did not have time to write and edit prior to the deadline, and I wanted to make sure it was clear enough for readers before posting. So this blog represents last Friday and this Friday all at once. Have a Merry Christmas, everyone.