How To Wrap A Present One-Handed

December 23, 2011 — 9 Comments

My wife once worked at one of those gift-wrapping kiosks in the mall.

I did not.

I’m not saying I couldn’t have, but it was probably for the best.

I’ve always wrapped presents myself.  For the most part I think I’ve done pretty well with it, too.  I like the crisp lines and the angles and the strategically placed strips of tape.  I take pride in a tight, tidy package.  Especially with CDs.  They’re kind of a pain to wrap, and everyone knows what they are before they open them, but there’s some satisfaction in seeing that little square, sharp corners and all.

That said, sometimes you just don’t care what it looks like, ya know?  And that’s not a one-handed thing; that’s a human being thing.  Throw it in a bag and be done with it.

I hope your gift-wrapping experiences go off without a hitch this year!

Happy holidays!

Ryan

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I'm a husband, a father, an author, a speaker, a friend...all kinds of things, actually.

9 responses to How To Wrap A Present One-Handed

  1. Love your blog. You crack me up! My daughter has the same LD as you and we enjoy watching your videos together.

  2. Your comment about using your teeth cracked me up. My son, Noah has tiny chips in his front teeth, which is probably from taking Legos apart that way. His dentist frowned upon that but what else is he going to do? 🙄 We might have to have to rethink some of that when he starts to get his permanent teeth.

    • Ha! Exactly. I’m going to be posting a video of when I was on the news as a kid and it shows me playing with LEGOS using my myoelectric arm…I never used that when I was playing with LEGOS! It was all teeth and toes for me. hehe

  3. Ha! Exactly. I’m going to be posting a video of when I was on the news as a kid and it shows me playing with LEGOS using my myoelectric arm…I never used that when I was playing with LEGOS! It was all teeth and toes for me. hehe

  4. Kristina Reynolds February 21, 2012 at 3:44 pm

    In the middle of a LOH marathon viewing session with my 12 year old son. Really enjoying all the videos and the director’s giggles, lol.

  5. My mom always started out by doing this box flipping thing to figure out the rectangle to start out with. This eliminates the need to fold over or cutoff the ends.

    First, figure out which way you’re going to cover the package on the first wrap. Place the end of the package along the edge of the paper, then flip the package onto it’s side, then on its top, and then it’s other side. Add some extra here (maybe 2 inches, or more if you can’t cut a straight line) and that’s your width of your square. In summary, this width is all 4 sides plus extra.

    For the length of your square, start out with the package on the the end, and then put it down on it’s side. Add a little bit of a buffer and this is your length. This is actually the length of the package plus 1 side plus a little extra. So once you do the first wrap, your ends should be a little over half of an end on top and a half end on bottom.

    Of course, I never do this, I end up doing what you do.

  6. Ryan, you do not need two hands to work out what size to cut the paper before you start!!

    I hope you don’t stick the paper to the gift if you’re giving a book.

    It’s a bit difficult to explain what I do, but here goes.

    Cut off three pieces of sellotape with scissors. Stick them to some part of your body eg your short arm (or in my case paralysed arm), or to the table or to the scissors. Either fold the paper round the present and hold in place by plonking the scissors on top then stick with the sellotape or stick the sellotape to what is going to be the upper bit of paper, having neatly folded in the raw edge, then pull the under side of paper in place, put the scisors on to hold it steady, then pull the upper side, which already has sellotape attached, round the present and stick with sellotape. Then tuck ends in neatly and stick with sellotape.

    My son only related this anecdote to me because he was so astounded. It had never occurred to him to even think about it. (As we all know, mothers can do everything.)

    My student son to his friend: ‘I’ve been so busy I’ve asked Mum to wrap my Christmas presents.’
    The friend: ‘How can she do that? She’s only got one arm.
    My son: ‘It’s never stopped her before.’

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