A Speedy Gift Box

Just picture the scene. You've planned to give some edible treats as a present. You carefully chose the recipe, made sure you had all the ingredients, and cooked and baked with great care and attention so that the results were gift-worthy. Brilliant!

But have you thought how you are going to package and present them? You have some cellophane bags in the drawer but your baked delights are perhaps too fragile or sticky or will fall out of the lovely paper cases that you delicately placed each morsel in. Fear not! If you have a sheet or two of A4 paper all is not lost. You can fold it into a box.

My colleague showed me this a couple of months ago, much to my disbelief. He's an artist and apparently it's common for printers or painters to make such boxes for their ink or paint. The great thing about this is that you can just screw it up once you are done, keeping all the mess inside. Apparently they've been using these boxes (and no doubt screwing them up) for centuries.

However, no screwing up is taking place here, not least because I've found a great video on YouTube that will show you exactly how to do it.

I took a second sheet of paper, trimmed 1cm from one of the long edges and another 1cm from one of the short edges and then followed the same instructions. This slightly smaller box works really well as a base, with the original size box fitting as a lid.

Secure with a ribbon (or adorn as you see fit) and you have a instant gift box. Well, as instant as I think you are going to get without calling on the services of your fairy godmother and her magic wand!