bacon paper you can lick and more quirky gift wrapping designs

Flavored gift wrapping paper designs users can lick

Designers and brands introduce flavored paper that users can lick, taste, and smell for some playful seasonal gift-wrapping designs. These ideas move beyond paper and ribbon as the flavored surfaces immerse the gift receivers into culinary and environment-scented experiences. Some brands have released gift wrapping paper designs that mimic the scents and flavors of food and even its style. With Tokyo-based designer Tsujio Ippei, his wrapping paper mimics the look of baked buns pulled out fresh from the oven. There’s ALDI too, which created one with the taste and smell of pigs in blankets (sausages or hot dogs wrapped in dough or bacon). The paper carries the smoky and savory smell of the dish, and the stickers on it can be peeled back to reveal the lickable surface.

In this way, the part people can lick is covered from dust, at least until they peel it off. Fast-food brands have also entered the space of lickable gift wrapping paper designs, as in 2024, creative studio The Robin Collective designed lickable wrapping paper for KFC. It reproduced the taste of chicken, stuffing, onions, and cranberries, so when users roll their tongue on it, they could taste the meal served by the chain. Potentially, this lickable paper uses food-safe inks that are flavored with extracts or oils. These ‘ingredients’ are infused either directly into it during the manufacturing process or are added later on before applying a protective layer to preserve its scent and taste.

image courtesy of ALDI UK

Modern scented paper for presents smell more like food

Other gift wrapping paper designs are scented instead of lickable. While they’re not entirely new, brands and designers are exploring other ways to make them more food-flavored. Meat lovers, for example, can wrap gifts in paper that smells like cooked bacon so that when scratched, the surface releases a strong bacon aroma. Sweet scents are part of the game, too, with Cinnabon introducing rolls of scented paper that smell like a fresh cinnamon roll.

These gift wrapping paper designs offer a more interactive activity because handling, scratching, or licking the surface activates its scent or taste. They suggest creative ways for designers and brands to experiment or use food-safe scents, taste compounds, and standard wrapping paper materials, a way to tickle their creative spirits, especially during the holiday season. They can create a sensory experience, and these combinations of scent, taste, and visual design can become an upgraded direction for the gift industry.

the paper tastes like Pigs in Blanket