Presents with pizazz

Live out your Banksy fantasies by turning your gift box into a brick wall and vandalizing it with festive art —NASTASHA DE VILLA

Pretty packaging does not a perfect gift make, but it sure can evoke the best sense of wonder and anticipation in anyone at the receiving end.

Here are some unexpected yet surprisingly simple gift-wrapping ideas to level up your Secret Santa game and make this year’s gift exchange a memorable one.

Metallic backsplash tile stickers give off a fancy futuristic effect

Start off by picking unusual materials from unlikely sources. Skip the bookstores or gift wrapping specialty shops, and head straight to the hardware.

Hardware stores may not be anybody’s go-to spot for buying gift wrappers, but it can actually be a great source of fun, quirky and even tactile alternatives. (Another nice thing about playing around with packaging is since any mark, distortion or deformity would be covered up anyway, it allows the giver to reuse boxes that would just be discarded or needlessly occupy precious storage space otherwise.)

Play with textures

1. Foam brick wall adhesives let you live out your Banksy fantasies. Make sure to choose a big box to maximize the effect and the surface area you can play around with.

Cut a sheet of foam brick wall sticker to fit around the gift box and stick all over the outer surfaces. Then take a brush and acrylic paints, and go wild with some festive vandalism. Add some shimmery accents.

2. Create a beautiful mosaic by arranging self-adhesive 3D tiles all over a hard container. Since most tile stickers come in squares, using them on a quadrilateral box would be ideal but not required. Just make sure to get the placement and spacing correct before cutting and sticking the tiles.

There are also metallic backsplash tile stickers for those who prefer a fancy, futuristic effect. Have fun mixing different types of tiles, and making different shapes and patterns.

Ultra-fine sandpaper’s gritty and glittery surface has that elegant midnight-sky look that goes well with a tangle of shiny ornaments

3. Ultra-fine black sandpaper’s shimmery grit gives off a midnight-sky elegance that would set off any shiny topper beautifully. Cover a small box completely in sandpaper and top roughly with a handful of tinsel or other tiny twinkly ornaments using glue or double-sided adhesive. No need to be precise about the placement as the messiness just adds to its chaotic charm.

Faux grass packaging blends well with the holiday decor

4. Finally, there’s artificial turf or faux grass. Using this for packaging has the added benefit of making the present blend into the holiday décor—perfect for those who love pranking their loved ones.

Fold a square of fake grass into an envelope, making sure to secure the edges together tightly with strong adhesive (like duct tape) on the underside. Flip over and decorate with a few pieces of small red Styrofoam balls and twigs or fake flower petals to either lean into the yuletide season or reflect the fleeting beauty of nature, respectively.

For a wintry look, either lightly paint the tips of the grass unevenly with white acrylic paint or glue a sprinkling of fake snow made from broken-down Styrofoam all over the surface.