Wrapping a large, awkwardly-shaped present for a man

My husband, Simon, celebrated a big birthday this weekend so we've been up to all sorts of mischief in our family (which means finding crafting time has been tricky!) My present for him was a fabulous new bike, which would have been quite a challenge to keep secret, so I decided to leave it in the shop and presented it like this:

This box was made to fit a photo of the bike, printed onto an A4 sheet of Whisper White card stock, rolled it up certificate-style and tied closed with ribbon.  "A long box, " said Simon. "Hmm, interesting. What could it be?"

The tag was made by stamping the doily image from Happy Day, adding a sentiment (retired) and punching it out with the Ticket punch. I tied it onto the gorgeous stitched satin ribbon in Midnight Muse and added it to the box. "Nice tag," said Simon and tore it off while I winced - will he never learn?!

"Is this a certificate inside?" he said and then, in a worried voice: "Perhaps it's one of those experience days like jumping out of an aeroplane... what if the parachute doesn't open...? Aargh!" He untied the ribbon...

"WOW! It's a bike!" he cried in an excited voice that held more than a tinge of relief. "Thank goodness it wasn't a parachute jump...!"

I hope this idea helps you when you have a tricky gift to wrap!

Presenting the gift this way gave us the opportunity to make a trip to the cycle shop on my husband's birthday, which upped the excitement levels for him as he got the picture first and then the real solid actual bike!  I booked a surprise lunch in a very pleasant little brasserie nearby too, so we were able to make a real occasion of it. We took off to London for a road trip for at the weekend to continue the birthday celebrations - though not on the bike thankfully!

Thanks for popping in to visit me today. See you tomorrow,