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Gingerbread House Disguise Gift Wrap - How to hide books for surprise gifting

December 16, 2023

Gingerbread House Disguise Gift Wrap - How to hide books for surprise gifting

Books are a great gift, especially for children. Catch is, a wrapped book looks exactly like, well, a wrapped book. How can you build anticipation and recapture the element of surprise when gifting books? Disguise them using this clever gingerbread house inspired gift wrap we developed in collaboration with Algonquin Young Readers’ holiday release of Merry and Hark, a picture book about a little owl on a Christmastime adventure in the big city.

How to disguise books for gift wrapping

With only up-cycled materials, a few sheets of Wrappily, and your picture book, we will construct a show stopping gift that is sure to surprise and delight. And what’s best, the box that serves as the base can be a simple decoy or a strategic cubby to hold extra gifts and treats—a stuffed animal! more books! art supplies!

Sneaky and clever—love it. Peek the speedy version of this tutorial on Instagram.

 

Supply list:

  • Up-cycled box
  • Scissors
  • Box cutter
  • Wide masking tape
  • Double-stick tape (or hot glue gun)
  • Grocery bag or construction paper (optional)
  • Wrappily wrapping paper
  • Wrappily Eco Ribbons

Gingerbread Disguise Gift Wrap By Wrappily

Let’s begin!

The trickiest part is finding just the right sized box to use as the base of your house. Using the spine of your book for measure, you’ll need to find a box that is the same size or slightly smaller on one side. This will be how you form the hip roof with your book.

Pro tip: comb through any extra packaging or shipping boxes you have around the house first, maybe you’ll be lucky and can up-cycle one you already have. You’ll need a four panel top-open style box.

How to disguise books with your gift wrapping - Gingerbreadhouse by wrappily step 1

Let’s form the roof—reveal: it’s your book!

It will lay across and be supported by two of the box’s top flaps, while the remaining two get trimmed to form the triangular peaks of the roofline. No special math, here: simply find the center of the flap and slice to the outside base using scissors or a box cutter. The angle of the roofline will be determined by the ratio of the book measurement and box dimensions, so your’s may look a little different than what we have picture here.

Pro tip: If you plan to add additional gift items to the box, we recommend doing it now before the top gets taped up. Like we mentioned above, the box can simply be a decoy, but to be extra sneaky, consider adding some weight or some loose rattly items to confuse all those box shakers out there.

Lastly, use wide masking tape or dots of hot glue to frame up the box flaps into the shape of the roof.

How to disguise books with your gift wrapping - Gingerbreadhouse by wrappily step 2

Wrap the Book:

We’re going to wrap the book open to the middle, which allows us to utilize the flexible spine to drape along the frame built with our box. Open midway and lay flat, if there is a book cover, tuck the pages under for extra protection. Fold your wrapping paper lengthwise around the book and secure to the inside. For each edge, simply form a triangle and fold over.

Pro tip: leave about a fingertip’s worth of space past the edge of the book so it has room to flex in the wrapping.

How to disguise books with your gift wrapping - Gingerbreadhouse by wrappily step 13

Wrap the Box:

Stretch wrapping paper lengthwise under the box from triangular peek to peek. Trim, then fold over each peek and tape inside to secure. Fold along angle of roof line, then tuck and wrap sides of the box as you normally would, ending by bringing the bottom tab of wrapping paper up so the final taping will be hidden under the eave of your book. Repeat on the other side.

How to disguise books with your gift wrapping - Gingerbreadhouse by wrappily step 4

Attach the Roof:

Line the edges of the inside of the wrapped book with double-stick tape or hot glue. (Remember the center of your box may be open, so do not tape or glue there.) Affix your roof, taking care to align book and box edges. Press to adhere completely. If the book is heavy or you feel the roof needs additional support, you can turn the box to its side and use tabs of masking tape under the eaves for additional support.

How to disguise books with your gift wrapping - Gingerbreadhouse by wrappily step 5

Trim the House:

It is entirely optional, but feel free to adorn the front of your gingerbread house with doors and windows. We used cut-outs from a grocery bag decorated with white paint pen, but construction paper would work, too.

Last, but not least, we think every great gift deserves a big bow and a bauble…or three.

Pro tip: If you want to wrap ribbon around the house, start under one eave to avoid the ribbon stretching diagonally from the bottom to the roofline. Use tape (double-stick is even better) to secure the loose end of the ribbon under one eave, then wrap around the house, securing the ribbon again under the opposite eave.

Et voila! Your gingerbread house gift wrapping, and fully disguised book gift, is complete. We hope it brings smiles, surprise and delight to whomever you give it to.

How to disguise books with your gift wrapping - Gingerbread house by wrappily complete

Happy wrapping!