How To Wrap A Box With A Lid – Picture & Video Tutorial
A step-by-step picture and video tutorial that shows how to wrap a box with a lid separately to be able to use it again and again. Create beautiful boxes, reuse, recycle, AND make your holiday wrapping easier and go faster every year with this essential step in the holiday gift wrapping system!
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One of my favorite things I stumbled upon developed to help make the holidays simpler is an easy gift wrapping system.
I love, love that I can wrap all our family’s gifts in about 30 minutes – and that I’m saving money and helping the environment a bit, too.
A major part of this system is wrapping sturdy boxes with lids each separately so that they can be opened without tearing the paper and then can be reused from year to year.
And when I say year to year, I mean it. I have wrapped boxes that I have used for almost 20 years, storing in between uses! It’s amazing, really, and takes so much stress out of the holidays.
While the finished wrapped box looks complicated – and my family have always thought was special – it’s really fairly simple to do.
It did take me a few tries to figure it out the first time I wrapped a box, though, so I thought a tutorial was called for so you can use this technique to make your wrapping easier, too.
Below you will find a video with all the steps as well as a step-by-step picture tutorial you can use as you’re wrapping your own box!
Wrap a Box With a Lid Video
How to Wrap a Box With a Lid
Materials Needed:
- Very Sturdy Box With A Lid. Boxes with lids that only go a quarter to halfway down the side of the box are best. I’ve found that lids that go all the way to the bottom of the inner box are harder to wrap and tend to cause the paper to rip when being used. So those cheap shirt boxes are really not the best ones for this- look for thicker boxes that will last for years.
- Thick, Beautiful Wrapping Paper. Choose what you love and/or that coordinates with your holiday. You’ll be seeing if for a long time, so this is the time to splurge on the expensive paper (or find it at the after-Christmas sales). Here are some Christmas-themed options and here are some beautiful generic options.
- Scissors
- Invisible gift wrapping tape
Directions
Step 1: Lay the lid on the paper and cut the paper.
It should cover the long sides with about an inch extra to fold over the top. Leave the short ends long enough to fold up and over the sides with a slightly longer overhang, about 1-1/2 to 2 inches (in this example it’s about 3-4 inches total).
Note: This example is actually a square box, making all the sides even, but the idea is the same with any size box- two sides are just folded over, the other two that make up the ends need to be longer because they are folded twice.
Step 2: Fold the long sides up and over the lid.
Use a piece of tape to attach the paper to the inside edge of the lid as pictured and repeat on the other side (just one piece now to hold in place).
Step 3: Take the end sections and fold just like wrapping a regular box:
- Bring the edges in and fold as pictured above.
- Make creases and fold down the edges that stick up over the box as shown.
Step 4: Tape the first folds to the inside lip of the lid.
Where the side and end papers meet in the corners is the only tricky part, but just tuck and fold until flattened and then place a piece of tape to hold.
Continue to fold and wrap the end just like a regular box, but take extra time folding and creasing, since you want this to look nice for years to come.
Step 5: Wrap folded end over the lid edge and secure it with tape.
Step 6: Repeat with the other end and go back over the lid and fully tape all un-taped edges.
This makes the wrapping job last through many years of kids ripping the lids off on Christmas morning or birthdays.
Then repeat the six steps above with the bottom of the box.
And that’s how to wrap a box to reuse it! Pretty simple, right?
However, if you’re thinking you couldn’t do a “perfect job” of this, here’s what my box looks like inside:
Yep, an imperfect edge on the inside of the box. Are you shocked?
Ha! I’m here to tell you that when opening gifts, NO ONE cares about this, so I don’t either.
I’m just happy to get the boxes covered and cannot be bothered with making all the edges even.
And it looks great from the outside which is what matters, right
So go forth and wrap a box…permanently and with confidence!
Not only is this wrapping tutorial great for any time you want to give a present, it’s also a key part of my easy gift wrapping system that saves time, money, and stress during the holidays – AND keeps wrapping supplies out of the landfill. Truly and win-win!
Go HERE to see the whole system, including how to begin and storage tips, in photos and video.
This article is part of the 8 Weeks of Christmas Ideas series where you’ll find resources for cooking, gift ideas, time savers, recipes, traditions & more all November and December through the 24th.
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