Special Reports

Gift-Wrapping Made Easy

Brian Dakss

December 15, 2006 / 1:30 PM EST / CBS

Everyone loves to get a beautifully wrapped gift, but few of us actually know how to wrap one.

Experts say it's a lot easier than you think.

The Early Show consumer correspondent Susan Koeppen spoke to a professional, former champion wrapper to get tricks of the trade, to make even the cheapest gifts look like a million bucks.

Then, The Early Show co-anchors took part in a friendly wrapping contest!

The expert, Christine Fritsch, told Koeppen, "If (the wrapping is) really sloppy, it looks like an afterthought, it means that person didn't care that much about you."

But, she added, even if you're not spending a lot of money on the present, wrapping it nicely can make a huge difference."

Among Fritsch's tips:

People always seem to short themselves on paper, so always give yourself a lot of extra paper.

Create clean, crisp edges. "Instead of having a seam in the middle of the box, I like to go to the side and it makes it disappear," she says.

To get perfect "book-ends" on the sides of boxes, don't be afraid to trim as you go, and again, try to hide the seam.

Dress up your presents with bows or accessories such as cookie cutters, picture frames, and holiday ornaments.

To cover up mistakes such as running out of paper, a creative fix is to fill in the gaps with strips of something else.

To see the segment, including the inter-anchor contest, click here.