Gift wrapping refers to the act of enclosing a gift in some sort of material. Wrapping paper is a kind of paper designed for gift wrapping. Gifts may also be wrapped in a box. They may be held closed with ribbon and topped with a decorative bow (an ornamental knot made of ribbon).

In Western culture, gifts are often wrapped in wrapping paper and accompanied by a gift note which may note the occasion, the receiver's name and the giver's name. In the United States, an additional 5 million tons of waste are generated over the Christmas gift-giving period; four million tons of this is wrapping paper and shopping bags. Some people attempt to avoid this by unwrapping gifts with care to hopefully allow the paper to be reused, while others use decorated cloth gift sacks that can be easily reused many times; both of these concepts are part of the Green Gifting trend that encourages recycling.

In Chinese culture, red wrapping connotes luck.

In Japanese culture, wrapping paper and boxes are common. However, the traditional cloth wrapping called furoshiki is increasing in popularity, particularly as an ecologically friendly alternative to wrapping paper.