Washi Tape Gift Wrap on Plain Kraft Paper

You will finish this holding a wrapped parcel in plain brown kraft paper, striped with washi tape, that looks like it came from a shop that charges for wrapping. Fifteen minutes for the first one, five for the next. No ribbon, no bows, no glue, no curling scissors.

Kraft paper does the heavy lifting here. It is cheap, it photographs beautifully, and it makes almost any pattern look deliberate against it. Washi tape supplies the colour and tears by hand, which is the whole reason this is quick.

What you need

• Brown kraft paper. A roll is cheapest; a paper grocery bag cut open works perfectly.
• Three rolls of washi tape. Two patterns and one plain, in colours that sit near each other.
• Scissors and clear tape for the wrapping itself.
• A plain paper tag, optional but worth it.

Three rolls is the number. Two looks thin, five looks like a jumble sale.

Steps

1. Cut the kraft paper to size before you start taping anything. Wrap the box loosely, mark where the paper overlaps by about three centimetres, and trim. Long ends should reach a little over half the depth of the box on each side.

2. Wrap the parcel plainly first, with clear tape. Pull the paper taut across the top, tape the long seam down the middle of the underside, then fold the ends: sides in, top flap down, bottom flap up, tape. Keep every piece of clear tape on the underside where nobody looks. Wrap before you decorate — trust us. Washi tape stretched across a fold will not survive being folded again.

3. Decide which face is the front. Whichever face is cleanest and seam-free. Everything from here happens on that one face; the rest of the parcel stays bare.

4. Lay the first stripe down. Take your widest patterned tape, pull a length a little longer than the box, and lay it across the front face — do not stretch it, just let it settle. Press it flat with a fingertip from the middle outward. Wrap the ends around the sides and tuck them under, or trim them flush at the corner with scissors.

5. Add the second stripe alongside it, with a gap. Leave a strip of bare kraft paper between the two, wider than either tape. The bare paper is doing as much work as the tape, and stripes that touch read as a mess rather than a pattern.

6. Add the third stripe — the plain one — offset. Put it away from the pair, closer to one edge, so the front face reads as a group of two plus a single. Three evenly spaced stripes look like packaging. Two plus one looks designed.

7. Tie or tape a tag to the front. A plain tag on kraft paper needs nothing more than a name in pen. Stick it down with a small square of the plain washi so it belongs to the same set.

Getting the tape straight

Washi tape is forgiving, and this is why it beats ribbon. It lifts and repositions two or three times before it stops sticking, so a crooked stripe is a two-second fix, not a rewrap.

Work with the roll rather than pre-cut lengths: anchor one end on the parcel, unroll along the face, then tear against the roll edge with your thumbnail. It tears straighter that way than with scissors and much straighter than pulling it free in mid-air.

If a stripe wanders, lift it slowly from one end at a shallow angle. Yanking it straight up will take a layer of kraft paper with it.

One variation

Skip the stripes and build a plaid instead. Run three stripes one way with wide gaps, then three across them at a right angle. Where they cross, the tape doubles in colour and the effect earns its keep on a big flat box — a heavier look than stripes, and about a minute longer.

Before you go

Wrap the whole stack of gifts in one sitting while the rolls are out. The tape does not care how many parcels it crosses, and the set looking consistent is most of the effect.

Match the parcel to the card with the score, don't cut card fold — a clean spine and plain kraft belong together. Print a sheet of five-minute gift tags to finish it, and there are more free sheets to print on the printables page.