flavored paper you can lick and taste? explore some of the quirkiest gift wrap designs

"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."

"With Tokyo-based designer paper that users can lick, taste, and smell for some playful seasonal gift-wrappingTsujio 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."

"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 cin"

Designers and brands are creating lickable and scented gift-wrapping papers that reproduce food flavors and aromas to create immersive gifting experiences. Some papers are formulated so users can lick, taste, and smell them, such as a Tokyo-designed paper that mimics freshly baked buns. Grocery retailer ALDI produced a lickable design that carries the smoky, savory smell and taste of pigs in blankets, with peelable stickers protecting the lickable surface. Fast-food collaborations include a 2024 KFC wrap that reproduces chicken, stuffing, onions, and cranberries. These products likely use food-safe inks flavored with extracts or oils infused during manufacturing or added before applying a protective layer. Scented variants release aromas when scratched, such as bacon-scented wraps and Cinnabon-scented rolls.

Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine