It's that time of year, where the dread of wrapping gifts has arrived and you're urgently watching tutorials in hopes of getting it just right.
But if you can’t master the perfect edges or getting the right amount of paper, there’s no need to worry.
Because people who can’t quite manage to get the perfect looking present are still spreading festive cheer , reports the Mirror .
According to a study called Presentation Matters: The Effect of Wrapping Neatness on Gift Attitudes , those who are bad at wrapping actually bring more joy to their loved ones that those with perfect wrapping skills.
As part of the study, researchers asked people what they felt when given a differently wrapped gift - neat ones and messy ones - and found that badly wrapped gifts were considered more endearing.
Authors of the study, Jessica M Rixom, Erick M Mas and Brett A Rixom, said: "While gift-givers typically wrap gifts prior to presenting them, little is known about the effect of how the gift is wrapped on recipients' expectations and attitudes towards the gift inside.
"We propose that when recipients open a gift from a friend, they like it less when the giver has wrapped it neatly, as opposed to sloppily and we draw on expectation disconfirmation theory to explain the effect.
"Specifically, the recipients set higher (lower) expectations for neatly (sloppily)-wrapped gifts, making it harder (easier) for the gifts to meet these expectations, resulting in contrast effects that lead to less (more) positive attitudes towards the gifts once unwrapped."
However, the results varied when it came to gifting to those who are acquaintances and not close friends.
It seems when it comes to gifting your loved ones at Christmas you don’t need to worry too much about the presentation - but if you’re taking part in the office Secret Santa you might want to consider making a bit more of an effort.
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