How to Build the Perfect Gift Box

Most gift boxes are a collection of things that happened to be available, arranged until the box is full. The good ones follow a structure, and once you know it you cannot un-see it.

1. One anchor piece

Every box needs a single item that would have worked as the gift on its own. Usually this is the personalized piece - an engraved box, a frame, a name sign. Everything else in the box exists to support it.

If you cannot identify the anchor, the box will read as a hamper rather than as a gift.

2. Two supporting items, maximum

Supporting items should relate to the anchor, not compete with it. A frame beside an engraved box works because both carry the same names. A frame, a candle, a keychain and chocolates do not, because there is no through-line.

• Something to use, if the anchor is for display.
• Something small and consumable, if the box would otherwise feel formal.
• Nothing that needs assembling by the recipient.

3. A card in your own handwriting, or your own words

The card is read first and kept longest. Write three sentences: why this person, why this gift, why now. That is enough.

4. Packing order matters

Open the box in your head before you pack it. The first thing seen should be the card, then the anchor piece, then the rest. If the anchor is at the bottom under tissue, the moment is spent on the wrong item.

1. Line the box with tissue.
2. Lay the heaviest item flat at the base.
3. Wrap the anchor piece separately so it has its own unwrapping.
4. Tuck supporting items around, not on top of, the anchor.
5. Card on top, face up.
6. Close, ribbon, seal.

5. Size the box to the contents

A large box with a small gift inside reads as disappointing, however good the gift is. A snug box reads as deliberate. If the contents are small, use a small rigid box and spend the difference on the anchor.

You choose everything

Gift Boxes

Build Your Own Gift Box

Pick the box, the pieces, the message and the packaging - we assemble and send it.

£85Personalize

Gift Boxes

New Home Gift Box

A family name sign, a keys dish and a card, boxed for the day they move in.

£125Personalize

6. Decide who opens it and where

A box opened in front of twenty people at a wedding is a different object to one opened at home. Public boxes should look good half-opened and need no explanation. Private boxes can be sentimental and can take a longer letter.

The shortest possible version

One anchor, two supports, one card, a box that fits. That is the whole method. Everything else is ribbon.