Wrapping a shovel

I’m sure you’ve had this problem before : the cold season is upon us and you want to offer a shovel to your loved one as a gift but don’t know how to wrap it… I just ran into this exact problem and here is how I solved the problem.

Just like the Mystery Box, the shovel is for a Christmas gift exchange between friends. I wanted to give the largest object possible within the 20$ budget. That’s how I ended up having to wrap a snow shovel.

Wrapping it directly in gift wrap will immediately disclose the content. You can put it in a cardboard box if you have one big enough laying around, but the shovel is almost 5 feet tall and 2 feet wide. Instead, I chose to build a cheap and easy wood crate to make a box that can be easily covered in gift wrap.

The crate is built using five pieces of 1×3 framing lumber, each 8 feet long. The box dimensions are 1x2x5 feet. Four pieces are cut in three sections : one 5 feet, one 2 feet and a final 1 foot. These pieces are used to build the box. Wood screws are used to attach the cut pieces together, but I recommend using nails, it is quicker and you have less chances of splitting the wood. I started screwing without pilot holes, but in many cases the cheap soft wood just cracked open on the ends, so I ended up having to drill pilot holes.

The final lumber piece is cut in five sections : three 2 feet and two 1 foot. The two 1 foot sections are used to reinforce the box on the longer edge. The three 2 feet sections are screwed to one side of the box and used as anchor points for the shovel. Then, the shovel is anchored using tie wraps.

At this point, the box can be directly covered in gift wrap, but there are large surfaces on the box without any backing and gift wrap is quite fragile. If an object hits the wrapping on these large areas during transportation, the wrapping risks tearing open. To prevent this, duct tape is strips are placed in a ‘X’ pattern over the large open areas. The duct tape is added to provide more support, but in the end I’m not sure it is very useful. Then, stretch plastic wrap is wrapped around the box to cover all surfaces. Finally, gift wrap is used to cover the box. That’s it, now you just have to hope it fits in your car…