Mark Crosby
December 3, 2024
Reading time: 6 minutes
Are you good at wrapping gifts?
Do your friends and family come to you when they need a well-wrapped gift?
Then maybe you should consider becoming a gift wrapping professional.
What is professional gift wrapping used for?
When it comes to birthdays, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, weddings and other special occasions, many people dread the thought of wrapping gifts.
Maybe they’re just not very good at packing and are embarrassed by the possible outcomes. Others simply don’t have the time to spend a lot of time wrapping lots of gifts.
This is where professional gift wrapping comes in. They are responsible for wrapping people’s gifts to professional standards, eliminating the stress associated with these special events.
In addition to individuals who may choose to use their services, professional gift wrapping can also be perfect for businesses. If a company employs a lot of staff and wants to give them all the Christmas presents, for example, someone will have to wrap them, and they may decide to pay you to do it, this is the most convenient option. simple !
What skills do I need to become a gift wrapping professional?
Well, no prizes for guessing that you must be good at packaging…and when we say good, we mean really good.
If someone is paying for your service, they will expect a professional result, so you need to make sure your packaging is absolutely top-notch. You may be wrapping gifts in front of a customer – not only will you have to wrap them well, you’ll have to do it under pressure!
On top of that, you’ll need to have an idea of how to sell your services, so a strong sense of marketing will come in handy.
You’ll probably want a website, even if it’s a simple one, so people in your area can find you through Google. To get started, you’ll probably also want to get the message out in other ways. Start by posting in local Facebook groups or even printing flyers and putting them in mailboxes.
In many ways, packaging is the easy part: it’s making sure people know about your service that will be the biggest challenge initially.
How do I start setting up my service?
The great thing about establishing yourself as a gift wrapping professional is that it’s a very flexible way to make money. In fact, you can do everything from the comfort of your own home If you want.
However, flexibility comes with tough choices, and you’ll need to decide what’s best for you.
Here are some questions you should ask yourself:
Are you going to work from home or are you going to travel to your client’s location? Working from home may be less demanding, but it will limit your scope. If you’re willing to travel, you need to factor in the cost of gas or public transportation. Will you provide your services only to individuals or will you also advertise to businesses? How much will you charge? Do you charge per item or will you charge per hour? Will you provide the materials (for example, will you bring the wrapping paper) or will you let your client decide? Would you be interested in growing your business? Are you going to help people get the gifts and have them delivered directly to you, or are you just interested in the packaging? How far are you willing to go in this matter? Will you employ additional staff to help during busy times (and do you feel comfortable doing so?) or would you prefer to only take on what you can handle?
We ask these questions because there are many ways to approach the question and you need to decide what works best for you. Just make sure you’ve taken everything into consideration.
How much can I earn as a professional packer?
The amount you can earn really varies depending on how you approach your pricing structure and how many clients you can attract.
For example, if you’re only targeting individuals, you may want to charge per item. This means you can charge as little as £3 for a small item, £5 for a medium sized item and £7 for a larger item. If you’re traveling to the customer’s location, you’ll likely charge a little more to cover your fuel and time.
If you receive bulk orders, especially from businesses, but possibly from customers with many gifts to wrap, you may find it easier to charge by the hour. £10-£12 an hour to start would be reasonable if you are just starting out and want to establish your service. However, once you’ve made a name for yourself and demand increases, it wouldn’t be extreme to charge between £25 and £30 per hour.
Professional gift wrapping is still niche, so you may find that the lack of competition in your area allows you to charge a little more than you otherwise would.
Basically, charge what you think you’re worth, ensuring you cover your expenses and can attract clients.
Case study: Alison Westwood
We spoke to Alison Westwood, who runs Eclipse gift wrapping with her husband, to get a little insight into running a gift wrapping business.
What made you get into professional gift wrapping?
I started my working life as a physiotherapist, but contracted a serious form of viral meningitis in 2003. This left me very ill for a long time. A few years later, while I was recovering, I started to think about returning to work. I started selling jewelry and clothing at house parties and small events with a friend. I was asked on one occasion if I could wrap something in a gift and, even if I could, I felt my efforts were a little unprofessional. This led me to take a gift wrapping course and it went from there.
I developed my skills over time by becoming interested in origami, furoshiki and the properties of various materials. I am currently eliminating all non-recyclable products so that everything we use is recyclable or reusable.
Do you work from home or travel to your clients?
I do both. We have corporate clients in various locations like London. We travel to their homes to teach their employees how to wrap gifts or to provide an on-site gift wrapping service – sometimes we bring a whole team of gift wrappers! There is also individual training here in our workshop, group workshops, demonstrations and team building sessions.
I have trained people from countries like Nigeria and Ghana in my workshop, and I have trained people from other countries using Skype.
What are the most important skills needed to become a gift wrapping professional?
Being a perfectionist and paying attention to details are important; also being a practical person, good with his hands. Of course, it’s also about providing good customer service, which is why excellent communication skills are essential. Being able to work under pressure is also very helpful, as wrapping a beautiful, potentially valuable item in front of the customer is not something everyone can do!
What would be your best advice for people looking to make money through gift wrapping?
Start small. Use a modest but good quality selection of materials and build a strong customer base supported by personal recommendations. I think one of the best ways to make money from gift wrapping is to offer it as a valuable add-on in a small retail business such as a gift shop – this highlights the business as offering added value for money.
