Your Complete Guide to Starting a Gift Wrap Business

Its Christmas time again, and that means people will be scrambling to buy and flawlessly wrap gifts by the dozen. There is a golden holiday business opportunity here- with little money and little preparation, you can make hundreds as a professional gift wrapper. Its easy, and I will show you just how to start a successful business.

Step 1: Materials:

Buy bulk rolls of four or five types of holiday paper: get a Christmas-y paper, a blue and white patterned paper for Chanukah, a holly paper for the more secular gift givers, a kid-friendly wrapping paper with fun colors and designs on it, and a more serious, business-y type of wrapping paper. Don't be afraid to order too much- remember, wrapping paper lasts forever, so you can always use any extra next year. Also buy a reliable, comfortable pair of scissors, gift tags, and lots of clear tape. Also, consider ordering glove, shirt, sweater, and hat boxes so you have some way to package people's gifs before thy are wrapped. Get tissue paper too.

Step 2: Advertise, Advertise, Advertise!!

Advertise your business in local newspapers, on Internet services sites such as Craigslist, on bulletin boards, and on posters leading to your house. Set up a workstation in your open garage or in your front yard, depending on the weather. Remember, no one is going to come get your gifts wrapped if no one knows about your business, so get the word out.

Step 3: Set Your Prices

Here are some suggested prices. Adjust based on your location- urban and suburban areas are the best places to have a gift-wrapping business, as there are many busy, last minute people. Also, if you choose to work on Christmas Eve or close to it, you can charge a lot more for those few hours. Lots of people will want their presents wrapped hours before Christmas begins, so you can get away with charging much more.

Small Package (Ring Box, Bracelet, etc.) $1-$3 each

Medium Package (Shirt Box, Game, Etc.) $3-$5 each

Large Package (Sweater Box, Awkward Packages, etc.) $5-$8 each

Extra Large Package (Snowboard, Unicycle, Pogo Stick, etc.) $8-$10 each

Don't think you'll come across a pogo stick? You're wrong. Last year I was asked to wrap snowboards, bicycles, pogo sticks, and all sorts of strange things.

Step 4: Stay Organized

Remember, whenever somebody drops off presents to be wrapped, give him or her a receipt of everything that was dropped off, so the person can't falsely claim you stole something. Don't mix gift wrap orders with other orders, because everything looks pretty similar wrapped and you wont know if you mixed peoples' presents up or not.

Step 5: Create a Registry

Whenever you do business with someone, record his or her phone number and e-mail. That way, you can call your clients next year and remind them of your service.

Step 6: Give Out Coupons for Next Year

Hand out coupons, such as "One Present Wrapped for Free", to your clients so that they will come back next year.

Step 7: Extend your Business

Was your gift-wrapping business extremely successful? If so, continue your business with a Birthday Present Wrapping Business, which won't bring you as much money as Christmas present wrapping but will earn you some extra cash during the year.

Follow the 7 steps I discussed and I guarantee you will create a successful gift wrapping business that will bring you a surprising amount of cash. If its really successful, you can extend your business to become an annual thing. Tell me how it goes and good luck!