Add a Gift Wrap Option to Shopify: 3 Ways With Steps

To add a gift wrap option to a Shopify store without an app, create gift wrap as its own product that customers add to the cart, and turn on the cart note so they can write a gift message. That covers one wrap per order at no cost. If customers need to choose wrapping for individual items, or you want the option shown on every product page, use a product options app.

Shopify’s step-by-step gift wrap tutorial is one of its vintage theme customizations, which don’t apply to Online Store 2.0 themes, so the methods below use features every current free theme has. The order-note steps come from Shopify’s Help Center page on adding order notes, read on October 23, 2026, and the packing slip path from its page on customizing packing slips, read on October 31, 2026.

Method 1: gift wrap as a product

1. In Products, click Add product and name it “Gift wrap”, with a photo of the wrapped box and a description of what’s included: paper, ribbon, a card.
2. Set the price. If wrapping is free, a $0 product still records which orders need it.
3. Decide on inventory. If you have a limited stock of boxes, track it; otherwise turn tracking off so it never sells out.
4. Leave it out of your main collections, so it doesn’t appear among the products customers browse; it still shows in search and in the all-products collection.
5. Point gift buyers to it: mention it in the cart note label (next method), link it from product pages of giftable items, or add a menu item in your holiday collection.

Customers add it like any other item. Its line on the order tells the packer to wrap, and it shows up in your sales reports, so you know how many orders asked for it. Add variants if you offer more than one style, such as “Paper and ribbon” and “Gift box”, each with its own price.

It wraps the whole order, so if a customer buys three products and wants only one wrapped, they have to say so in the note. If that happens often, it’s the sign to use an app.

Method 2: a gift message with order notes

Every free Shopify theme can show a text box for order notes on the cart page. Some themes call them cart notes. To turn it on:

1. In the theme editor, choose Cart in the page selection drop-down at the top.
2. Click Sections.
3. Under the Template section, click Subtotal.
4. Check Enable cart note and click Save.

Then rename the box so customers know what it’s for. In Online Store, open the theme’s menu and click Edit default theme content, go to Sections, scroll to Cart and enter your text in the Note field, for example “Gift message (we’ll write it on a card)”. Save.

An order note is one box per order. Shopify separates it from two similar tools: cart attributes, which are extra form fields on the cart page, and line item properties, which record customization for a specific product on the product page. A per-item gift message needs the third kind, which is what product options apps add.

Method 3: an app for per-item wrapping

A product options app adds fields to product pages, such as a “Gift wrap this item” checkbox and a message field, and saves the answers as line item properties on the order. Some can also add a charge for the option. Before installing one, check its listing for these points:

• whether it can add a price to the option, and how: an added product, a fee, or a price change;
• whether it works with your theme’s product page and the Shopify cart;
• whether the option shows on the order, the packing slip and in the order notification email;
• what the plan costs at your order volume.

In our view an app earns its fee when a large share of orders are gifts and customers need to wrap items separately, such as stores selling jewelry, candles or books for the holidays. For a store with occasional gift orders, methods 1 and 2 cover it.

Pack it right

The packer has to see the request. Open Settings > Shipping and delivery, find the Documents section and click Packing slip template, then preview it with a recent order that has a gift wrap line and a note (Preview template, or Preview and search for the order). The packing slip template on our development store, opened on October 31, 2026, has a Notes block that prints the order note whenever there is one, so a cart-note gift message reaches the packer. If your template was edited and the note is missing, or the line item properties of an app’s per-item wrap don’t appear, the template’s Liquid code can be edited to add them.

Before the holidays, also decide whether a gift order’s packing slip should show prices; the template’s Liquid code controls what the slip shows. And test one order end to end: add the wrap, write a message, pay, and print the slip. For more ways to raise order value, see how to upsell on Shopify, and for the rest of the season’s prep, the holiday season checklist. Both are in the pricing and sales hub.

FAQ

Does Shopify have a built-in gift wrap option? Not on current themes. Shopify’s gift wrap tutorial covers vintage themes only; on current themes, create gift wrap as a product, collect the message with the cart note, or use an app.

How do customers add a gift message on Shopify? Turn on Enable cart note in the Cart theme settings and rename the note to ask for a gift message. The message is saved on the order as the order note.

Can I charge for gift wrapping? Create gift wrap as a product with a price, and customers pay for it like any other item. Some product options apps can also add a charge to a gift wrap option on the product page.

How do I offer gift wrap for only one item in an order? An order note and a gift wrap product both apply to the whole order. To wrap individual items, use a product options app that records the choice per item as a line item property.