How to Wrap Gifts Like a Dirtbag

Oh the holidays. A time of the year that divides humanity. There are those who sink their teeth into commercialism and are camped out Thursday evening before Black Friday. Then there are the people who preach the simplistic lifestyle. Both with valid points. Regardless of where you stand this holiday season, you will inevitably need to wrap some gifts. If not during this month; possibly during a birthday or other gift giving event. You could go to your favorite store and buy some snazzy gift wrap. Hell, you may even splurge for some 'green' gift wrap that was printed with soy ink on recycled paper. Odds are you had no idea the best gift wrap was sitting in your recycling bin.

Being the Patagonia whore I am I prefer to use their catalogs, but any will work. You could even use some issues of your favorite climbing rag, or Backpacker magazine.

1. Sift through the catalog and find full page images, the more diversity in the images the more appealing the gift wrap will be.
2. Cut the images out using a sharp knife along the spine of the catalog. The straighter the cut the better the wrap will look.
3. Layout pieces on the box being wrapped and using a small piece of tape tape them in place. You do not need to tape all the way around the edges as the images may over lap.
4. Once you get the box covered, tape any seams and finish the wrap job as you normally would.

Just like that you turned a pile of beautiful images into a unique and original piece that is bound to stand out under the tree or on the gift table.