Custom wrapping paper for business: how much to order

What the listing offers

Our wrapping paper is a glossy white 60 lb coated paper, printed in full color with your design repeated across the whole sheet. It comes in two roll lengths and a flat sheet set, and you can order from 1 to 25 at a time.

There are three choices for the back: front only, the same design on both sides, or your design on the front with grid lines on the back. The grid is there to make straight cuts easy, and it is the practical choice when staff wrap gifts in volume.

How much paper one gift needs

The paper has two jobs. It goes all the way around the box, and it folds over each end. For a box of length L, width W and height H, in inches:

• Around the box: 2 × (W + H), plus 2 inches of overlap.
• Along the box: L + H, plus 2 inches so the end folds meet and overlap.

A box 12 × 10 × 4 inches needs a piece 2 × (10 + 4) + 2 = 30 inches one way and 12 + 4 + 2 = 18 inches the other. That 30 inch side is wider than the 29.25 inch roll, so the piece is cut along the roll: 30 inches of length, 18 of the width.

Here is how many pieces each format gives for a few common box sizes, cutting full pieces only:

Treat these as the most you will get. Real wrapping wastes some paper on a crooked cut or a second try, so order a little more than the table says for a big gifting day. Larger boxes are where the sheet set loses to a roll: each 19.75 × 28 inch sheet covers only one shirt box, and the large mailer needs more paper than one sheet holds.

Rolls or sheets

Rolls suit volume. The long roll holds almost two and a half times the paper of the short one, and one roll covers a steady run of gifts of the same size without stopping to fetch a new sheet. A roll is also the only format for a piece longer than 28 inches, such as the 30 inches the large mailer needs.

The sheet set suits small runs and display. Five flat sheets store in a drawer and are the right size for small gift boxes, books and boxed cards. They also make good backdrops for product photos and shop windows.

Design a pattern that repeats

The listing repeats one rectangle of your design into a seamless pattern across the paper. For the long roll, the file setup on record is 7.384 × 5.432 inches, which is 2216 × 1630 pixels at 300 ppi; the other two sizes have no file setup on record, and we check those files by hand. The live preview on the product page shows the repeat as it will print.

• Keep the logo or motif inside the rectangle with a little space around it, so nothing is cut at the edge where one repeat meets the next.
• If a shape must cross the edge, the part that leaves one side has to come back on the opposite side, or the repeat shows a seam.
• Use a PNG with a transparent background, as the product page asks. Transparent areas print as the white paper.
• Pick one or two strong colors on white. A busy full color pattern can hide a logo on a small box.
• Size the motif for the smallest box you will wrap. A logo that looks right on a shirt box can be cut in half on a 4 inch gift box.

A pattern of a small mark repeated on white often looks more considered than a large logo, and it survives the folds at the ends of the box. If you want the brand to be unmistakable, add a printed sticker to seal the wrap; our guide to stickers for small business packaging covers sizes.

Where wrapping paper earns its place

Three uses suit it best. Holiday gifts for clients and partners, where every parcel on a desk should look like it came from the same place. A gift wrap service at the counter of a shop, where branded paper turns a bought item into a present that advertises the shop at the party. And online orders with a gift option, where the wrap is the first thing the customer sees when the box is opened.

For packed orders, wrapping paper is one layer of several. Our guide to custom tissue paper covers the layer inside the box, and our guide to the unboxing sequence explains how to decide what the customer sees first, second and last. If the gift itself is a photo keepsake, our guide to photo book sizes helps you pick the book before you pick the box.

A word on recyclable claims

If you want to print a recycling message on the paper or the packaging around it, the Federal Trade Commission's Green Guides set the rule. An unqualified recyclable claim is allowed only when recycling facilities are available to a substantial majority of the consumers or communities where the item is sold, which the guides define as at least 60 percent. Below that, the claim has to be qualified. Whether glossy coated paper is accepted varies from one local program to another, so check before you print a recycling claim on wrapping paper.

When to order

Standard delivery as soon as 6 business days, production included, and the product page and cart show the estimated day for your quantity. Count back from your first gifting day or the start of the holiday season in the shop, add the time to approve the pattern, and order the rolls you will need for the whole season at once so every gift matches.

Wrapping paper checklist

• Measure the boxes you will wrap most often.
• Work out the piece size: around the box plus 2 inches, along the box plus the height plus 2 inches.
• Choose rolls for volume and large boxes, sheets for small runs and display.
• Design one rectangle that repeats cleanly, sized for the smallest box.
• Use a PNG with a transparent background.
• Choose front only, both sides, or the grid on the back for straight cuts.
• Order a little extra for cutting waste on a busy wrapping day.

Design your wrapping paper