How to Wrap a Skateboard as a Gift (Deck or Complete)

To wrap a skateboard as a gift, cover the grip tape first with thin card or tissue paper: grip tape is sandpaper in all but name, and it tears wrapping paper. Then lay the deck on a sheet as long as the deck plus a hand's width at each end, fold the long sides over and close the ends in triangles, like a parcel. A complete skateboard, with trucks and wheels, tears paper straight away, so a box, a big gift bag or a piece of fabric works better. Below: both methods step by step, how much paper you need, how to wrap a skateboard so it looks like something else, and a few ideas for handing it over at Christmas.

First: a deck on its own, or a complete?

They don't wrap the same way. A deck on its own is flat and long, almost like a very long, very thin book. A complete has two trucks and four wheels underneath, weighs more and no longer has a flat side anywhere. Check what you're giving:

What you need

• Paper. Thin wrapping paper splits at the ends; brown kraft paper or a heavier wrapping paper holds up much better. If the roll is narrower than the deck is long, lay the deck diagonally, or join two sheets with tape on the back.
• Thin card or tissue paper to cover the grip. An opened-out cereal box will do, or the card from any delivery box.
• Sticky tape, double-sided if you don't want it to show, and ribbon or string for the bow.
• A tape measure and scissors.

One habit that saves grief: tape always goes on the paper, never on the deck. That way there's nothing to peel off the wood when it's opened.

How much paper you need to wrap a skateboard

There's no one figure that fits every deck, because decks aren't all the same length. Measure yours end to end with a tape measure, then:

• Length: the length of the deck plus a hand's width at each end. That's the paper you'll fold over the ends later, and because the nose and tail kick up, they use more paper than you'd think.
• Width: twice the width of the deck, plus four fingers' width so the edges overlap. With card over the grip, add another finger's width.

Before cutting, do a dry run: lay the deck down and fold the edges over without taping. If the sides meet and there's a hand's width spare at each end, cut. For a complete the sums don't work, because the trucks stick out and every set-up is different: that's where the box comes in, further down.

How to wrap a skateboard deck, step by step

1. Cover the grip tape. If the deck has grip, the black, rough top side, lay a piece of thin card cut to size over it, or two or three sheets of tissue paper. Grip tape is essentially sandpaper: as you fold wrapping paper over it, it scuffs the paper, and on the edges it ends up punching holes in it. With no grip you can skip this, although tissue paper also keeps the graphic from getting rubbed.
2. Lay the deck graphic side up, so the grip and its card face the paper. The seam of the paper then ends up over the graphic, and the first thing they see when they tear it open is the design, not the grip.
3. Fold the long sides over. One first, snug against the edge of the deck, then the other on top. Fold a finger's width of the second edge under so it looks neat, and fix it with two or three pieces of tape.
4. Close the ends. Push the sides of the spare paper at each end inwards, as you would when wrapping a shoebox: you get two folds and a triangle. Fold the triangle onto the deck and tape it. Because the end is round and kicks up, press the paper down well before taping. If thin paper creases too much, twist the ends like a sweet wrapper and tie them off with string.
5. Ribbon and bow. One ribbon lengthways, one across, and the bow where they cross. Tie the gift tag to the ribbon rather than taping it to the paper.

How to wrap a complete skateboard, trucks and wheels on

With trucks and wheels fitted, the trucks poke through the paper and the wheels tear it as soon as someone picks the parcel up. Four ways that work.

In a box

The safest way, and it hides the shape at the same time. Ask at a skate shop whether they have a long box going spare; it costs nothing to ask. Otherwise any box the board fits in lengthways will do, or two open boxes slid into each other. Fill the gaps with scrunched-up paper so nothing moves and you can't hear wheels rolling, close it and wrap it: a box is the easiest thing in the world to wrap.

In a big bag or a piece of fabric

A large gift bag, a beach towel, a throw or a big scarf. With fabric, lay the board on it diagonally, fold the two short corners into the middle and knot the other two over the top, as in Japanese furoshiki. The fabric can be part of the present: a towel, a throw for the sofa, or a hoodie with the sleeves tied together.

With paper, but with a trick

If it has to be paper, wrap each pair of wheels first in tissue paper or bubble wrap. Then fill the space between the two trucks with scrunched-up paper or a folded piece of card, until the underside is nearly flat, and wrap the whole thing in heavy paper as if it were a deck. It'll be an odd-looking parcel, but it'll hold.

No wrapping, just a bow on the truck

A complete looks good without any paper at all. Tie a wide ribbon around one of the trucks, make a big bow and hide the board under a blanket or behind the sofa until it's time. With the bow on the truck and not on the wheels, it can roll right up to their feet.

How to wrap a skateboard so it looks like something else

Wrapped tight to its shape, a deck gives itself away from across the room: long, with rounded ends that kick up. If you want a proper surprise:

• A bigger box than you need, ideally one from something else, like flat-pack furniture or a kitchen appliance. Padded out with paper, even the weight gives nothing away.
• Between two sheets of card. Cut two pieces of card a little bigger than the deck, sandwich it between them and tape the edges: the parcel becomes a flat rectangle, like a picture or a poster.
• Bulk it out. Wrap the deck together with a cushion or a folded jumper: the parcel goes soft and round, and nobody thinks of wood.
• Disguise it for a laugh. Brown paper and a bakery sticker, and there's a giant baguette under the tree. Works best in families who find that sort of thing funny.

Ideas for handing it over at Christmas

A clue in the stocking

A deck doesn't fit in a Christmas stocking, but a clue does: a single wheel, the hardware for the trucks, or a card with the first riddle. The deck itself waits under the tree, or somewhere else entirely.

A treasure hunt round the house

Four or five clues on cards: you hand over the first, or it comes out of the stocking, each one leads to the next and the last one to the hiding place, behind a door, under the bed, in the wardrobe. The clues can talk skate: "where everything that rolls goes to sleep" for the garage, "the flattest spot in the house" for under the bed.

A present in instalments

A skateboard is made of parts, so it splits nicely across two occasions. The deck at Christmas, the trucks and wheels for their birthday, or the other way round, with a card on day one saying something's still missing. If the birthday turns into a skate party, there are ideas in skateboard birthday party ideas. If they already skate, a new deck on its own is a whole present: they move the trucks and wheels across from the old one. How a board goes together, and which parts there are, is in how to customise a skateboard; which width to pick without asking them, in what size custom skateboard deck should you choose.

If the deck hasn't arrived yet

If the day comes before the deck, give the idea: take a screenshot of your design in the editor (the 3D view shows the whole deck), print it and put it in a card, or in an envelope inside a big box so the parcel throws them off the scent. The editor's share link works too, but save it for the day: anyone who opens it sees the whole deck, so if it reaches them early, the surprise is gone.

If the deck comes from us

The deck arrives in a shipping package, not gift-wrapped, and there's no gift-wrap option when you order. If it's a present, the practical thing is to have it delivered to your own address and wrap it yourself: sent straight to them, it arrives as it is, unwrapped.

You get the deck on its own. Grip tape and parts (trucks, wheels, bearings and hardware) can be added to the order and are paid for separately. If you add grip, it arrives already applied, so the card step applies; the parts arrive loose, to fit yourself, which is exactly what a present in instalments needs. We don't sell ready-assembled completes for now.

The custom deck is 89 €, with free shipping in Spain and from 15 € per order to the rest of the EU, depending on the country (to Ireland, 20 €); we don't ship to Northern Ireland or anywhere else in the UK. In Spain, allow up to 8 working days from payment to your door. Outside Spain we don't give delivery times, and the deck is printed when you order it, so for Christmas order with plenty of time to spare, and leave yourself a moment to wrap it. More ideas for what to put on it are in custom skateboard gift ideas and, for a partner, in gifts for a skater boyfriend or girlfriend.

Frequently asked questions