After you've trawled the internet and streets looking for the perfect gift for someone, make sure the way you present it does your choice justice. There's no excuse for boring gifts...

Wrapping up presents for loved ones should be one of the more pleasurable tasks of the Christmas season, but for many of us it turns into a stressful chore. Daunted by the prospect of wrapping tens of gifts we try to get it done as quickly as possible, and after having used a year's supply of sticky tape we can end up very shabby-looking presents.

Quite frankly, that's just not good enough. It's all very well putting a lot of thought into buying the perfect gift and then braving the shops, but the pleasure of receiving it will be tarnished if no effort has gone into the wrapping. And if presents sit under the tree for a couple of weeks, inspirational wrapping can add a touch of glamour to the festive decorations.

Claire Richardson's book Paper Details is full of tips for making wrapping look "as beautiful as the gift inside". But before you even begin to paper your parcels in fresh and imaginative ways, she argues you need to adopt the right approach.

"The main mistake people make is that they don't give themselves enough time for wrapping, " she says. "Ideally, you should start at least a week before Christmas. And I don't advise in the afternoon; do it in short shifts just so you don't get bored and frustrated. Never treat it as a chore, it's supposed to be fun."

Making gifts look desirable doesn't have to be expensive. To use common-or-garden paper that can be found in any high street store is fine - it's the accessories which add a special and personal touch. "Some of the cheap papers have great designs and adding brightly-coloured ribbons or any of the thousands of stick-on things, like beads, stars and sequins, make gifts look bold and bright,"

One novel idea that makes opening gifts fun for both children and adults is 'layering'. If a present's shape is obvious, wrap it in many sheets of different-coloured paper and put tissue" between each layer along with confetti. On the other hand, you could make the most of an odd-shaped gift. "If your gift is a prickly leaved plant, don't try to hide it," Richardson says, "Let it's shape inspire you. Use tissue wrap with zigzag edges."

Garden gifts for someone with green fingers could be wrapped in paper pressed with dried flowers, embedded with berries or painted with gold flowers. Jewellery could be hidden in a box fastened with a stud, and perfume may be wrapped in scented or floral paper.

Simple ideas are often the best. Wrap one half of a present in one design and the other half in another. Bring it all together with a bow wrapped around the seam. Gift tags are an intrinsic part in the art of wrapping. Many people use luggage labels jazzed up with sparkly adornments, but now that we should all be recycling, Richardson suggests cutting up old Christmas cards with pinking shears and writing on them with metallic pens.

The whole point of design is to use your own ideas to create something unique that's guaranteed to raise a smile. So get busy with those scissors!

Paper Details by Claire Richardson
Published by Ryland Peters & Small £9.99.
(Available from all good bookshops)

Tips for tricky gifts

Plants – Can be ruined or damaged by over wrapping. Simply dress up the vase or pot, with a ribbon of raffia, tied in a bow, and a tie on label, decorated with glitter or stars.

Bottles – Stand the bottle on a few sheets of white tissue, pull up all the corners towards the top of the bottle, pull in around the neck, and secure with tape. Repeat procedure with colorful cellophane. Add a wire edged ribbon, and sculpt into a glamorous bow.

Cuddly Toys – Unboxed they test the most dexterous. Invest in a gift bag, then put in a bottom layer of scrunched up tissue paper, pop in toy, then add a top layer. Tweak the paper so the corners emerge in attractive shapes.