By Jill McDonough
The best side hustles are ones that fulfill a need. Did you know that being a gift wrapper is a great side hustle during the holiday season?
Many busy people find the task of wrapping multiple Christmas gifts to be overwhelming. People need their gifts wrapped, but don’t always enjoy the process or have the time.
Emphasize the convenience of your service to your busy customers.
Being a gift wrapper is a fun job to make some extra money before Christmas. You can also combine this side hustle with a babysitting side hustle. Why not make double the money?
Stand Out From the Crowd
Establish your own style of wrapping. Make your packages look unique. Add unusual touches such as bells, pinecones or stickers that personalize the wrapping. Search through my Pinterest Board on Gift Wrapping for beautiful ideas.
Pricing
Set straightforward pricing. Don’t charge for every little extra. Create prices for small, medium, and large packages. It typically takes less than 5 minutes to wrap a gift.
Decide whether you want to wrap at your client’s home or if you would rather have them drop off the items at your house. Remind clients to attach a note to each gift indicating To/From, age, sex and address (if applicable). You could even create your own labels.
Think Outside the Box
- You can also just use your client’s wrapping materials so you will have no overhead costs.
- Combine your side hustles. While babysitting during the holiday season, suggest that once the kids are in bed, you can wrap presents. Make money doing two jobs at once!
- Upsell to your clients by offering to not only wrap gifts but to prepare them for postage and mail them. Standing in long lines during the busy holiday season is hated by most people. Before offering this service, go to the post office during their slow time and ask someone there to familiarize yourself with packaging options and pricing. Add these costs as well as a charge for your time. Try to combine multiple clients’ jobs into one trip. And make sure you don’t go to the post office on a busy Saturday in December!
Pro Tips
Purchase discount wrapping supplies. After Christmas is the best time to stock up on wrapping paper, tissue paper, bags and ribbon. During the back to school sales are the best time to buy scotch tape.
Resources/Links
Learn how to wrap presents from this video. Get wrapping ideas from my Pinterest Board on Gift Wrapping.
Did you know you can wrap a present diagonally?
Want to learn more ways to make some extra money before Christmas? View our full list of side hustles for kids.
