Presenting a pet portrait gift: wrapping, the card and the moment

This page is about the last step of a portrait gift: the moment you hand it over. It covers the four ways to give a portrait (framed, unframed, on a screen, or as a promise), what research has found about gift wrapping, how to package a print so it arrives flat and clean, what to write in the card, and how to keep the pet safe from ribbon and paper while the gift is opened. For the planning that comes before this step, start with the guide to pet portrait gifts.

Four ways to hand over a portrait

The edition you chose decides most of what happens on the day. Purrealism offers a digital download or an art print, and prints come in four sizes (8 × 10, 12 × 16, 18 × 24 and 24 × 36 inches) on matte or glossy paper. Each form gives a different moment.

A framed print is the most complete gift, and also the riskiest if you guess the room wrong. The framing and hanging guide covers frame styles, mats and sizes. An unframed print hands that choice to the recipient. The art prints and paper guide explains the two paper finishes and how prints are kept.

The fourth choice suits a surprise that has no usable photo. The page on getting a full-size photo for a surprise portrait explains when a promise card is the honest option.

What research found about wrapping

It seems natural to expect that neater wrapping makes a better gift. A set of three studies found that the answer depends on who the gift is for.

Jessica and Brett Rixom of the University of Nevada, Reno and Erick Mas of Vanderbilt University published the work in the Journal of Consumer Psychology. In the first study, sports fans unwrapped a real gift, a mug with the logo of their favourite team or of a rival team. Half the gifts were wrapped neatly and half sloppily, using the same blue paper and gold ribbon. The fans liked the sloppily wrapped mugs more, even when the mug showed the rival team.

The second study showed why. When people saw neat wrapping, they expected a better gift inside. After they imagined opening it and finding a pair of mid-priced earbuds, they liked the neatly wrapped earbuds less. Mas explained that social scientists call this expectation disconfirmation: neat wrapping leads the recipient to set high expectations that are hard for the gift to meet.

The third study added the relationship. People who imagined a gift from a close friend again preferred sloppy wrapping. People who imagined the same gift from an acquaintance preferred neat wrapping. Rixom explained that a friend reads the wrapping as a clue to what is inside, while an acquaintance reads it as a sign of how the giver sees the relationship.

For a portrait, this is useful. With a close friend or a family member, simple wrapping is enough. For a neighbour, a colleague or a new partner's parents, careful wrapping helps, because Mas said people who know little about the giver use the wrapping as a sign of how the giver values the relationship.

Packing an unframed print

A print is paper, and paper marks easily. The University of Illinois Preservation Self-Assessment Program, which teaches libraries and archives how to care for their collections, describes the risks for inkjet prints, the kind made by spraying tiny drops of ink onto paper. It says they are sensitive to surface rubbing, and that moisture can make the ink bleed or streak. It also says each print should have its own enclosure, such as a paper folder made for storing art or a plain, uncoated plastic sleeve, and it advises against folding or rolling prints for storage.

From that advice, a safe gift package follows:

1. Wash and dry your hands before you touch the print, and hold it by the edges.
2. Slide it into a clean plastic sleeve or a paper folder made for storing art.
3. Put it between two stiff boards that are larger than the print on every side, so the corners cannot bend.
4. Keep tape off the print. Tape only the boards or the wrapping paper.
5. Keep the package dry and steady. Keep it away from drinks and damp coats, and avoid moving it straight from a cold car into a warm, humid room. The same program warns that frequent and sudden changes in temperature and humidity put physical stress on a print.

For the long-term care of a print that is not framed yet, the art prints and paper guide has more detail.

Giving a digital portrait

A digital download has no box to open, so you create the moment. Three ways work well:

• Show it on the biggest screen in the room. Open the portrait on a television or a tablet when the recipient is sitting with the pet.
• Print a small copy for a card. A small home print tucked inside a card gives the recipient something to hold. Tell them the full file is theirs.
• Send it with a message. For someone far away, send the file with a few lines about why you chose the style, and ask for a photo of the pet looking at it.

Whichever you choose, send the full file after the moment, so the recipient has the original to print or keep. The framing and hanging guide covers showing a digital portrait on a screen at home.

What to write in the card

The card is where the gift becomes personal. Three things belong in it:

• The pet's name. Put it in the first line.
• The style, and why you chose it. "A Mughal emperor, because she already sits on the best cushion like a throne" tells the recipient you thought about their animal.
• One memory. The first time you met the pet, or the thing it always does when you visit.

Write it by hand. Anna Jarvis, who led the campaign that made Mother's Day a national holiday in the United States, came to dislike the greeting card industry. The U.S. National Park Service says she argued that standardized cards went against the spirit of the day. The first Christmas card also left room for a personal touch. The Victoria and Albert Museum says Henry Cole's 1843 card was printed so each copy could be personalised with a handwritten greeting, and that the artist, John Callcott Horsley, signed his own copy with a tiny self-portrait.

A lesson from a royal present table

Queen Victoria liked to see her presents unwrapped. English Heritage, which cares for her seaside home, Osborne on the Isle of Wight, says she insisted that unwrapped Christmas presents be spread out across tables, as was done for royal birthdays. Her birthday gifts were laid out on a birthday table decorated with flowers, a custom that dated back to her childhood. By the 1850s a spare bedroom at Osborne had become the "present room". The family walked in together after the morning's music to see what was on the table. Victoria paid two artists, Joseph Nash and later James Roberts, to paint the table each year, in pictures detailed enough to identify each gift.

You can borrow the idea without a palace. Set the portrait on a small table or a chair at eye level, with the wrapping already off or a cloth over it, and bring the recipient to it. For a large print, an easel or a chair back works. The recipient sees the portrait the way it will look on a wall.

Keeping the pet safe during the opening

The pet in the portrait is often in the room when the gift is opened, and wrapping is a hazard. The ASPCA says to gather up tape, ribbons, bows, wrapping paper, cellophane and balloons after presents have been opened. It explains that long, stringy items that pets like to chew can lodge in the throat or the digestive tract and cause choking or vomiting. The Oregon Veterinary Medical Association adds that a pet that swallows tinsel, string or ribbon could suffer serious internal injuries.

Crowds bring their own risk. The same association says pets can become overexcited, confused or frightened by guests, and advises keeping them in a quiet part of the house while visitors are over. It also says to watch open doors and make sure the pet wears an ID tag or has a microchip. Candles need care as well: the ASPCA says a knocked-over candle can burn a pet or start a fire.

A calm plan for the moment:

1. Open the portrait with the pet in another room.
2. Put every piece of ribbon, tape and paper in a closed bin at once.
3. Bring the pet in, and let the recipient hold the portrait next to it.
4. Take the photo everyone will want: the pet beside its royal self.

The occasion pages cover the hazards of each season, from lilies on Valentine's Day to moving boxes at a housewarming. To see how finished portraits look before you choose one, browse the gallery.