Buying Christmas paper can be expensive if you have lots of presents to wrap. It can be wasteful too as you can’t use it up for birthdays if it’s covered in reindeer and mistletoe.
The easiest way to wrap presents is with good old sturdy brown paper, it’s cheap to buy and easy to fold and stick. But it doesn’t look very festive, so here are a few ideas to brighten it up which cost next to nothing and will make you feel super crafty.
The piles of present under your tree will look pretty and homemade and there’s a great way to use up leftover bits of wrapping paper that are too small for a whole present. Other than the tree toppers (which need a hot glue gun) the kids can get involved decorating a few special presents and you don’t need any equipment other than string, glue and a hole punch.
Tree Toppers
- Hot Glue Gun
- Some straightish twigs
- Wool/coloured thread or pipe cleaners
- A star cut from shiny card
Cut two sticks to around 12cm long, one to around 6 cm and one to 3cm.
Glue the sticks into a tree shape with hot glue. Tie on some coloured thread and wind around the sticks or around the whole tree. This is really easy if you use sparkly pipe cleaners instead of thread! Fix to your parcel with glue or thread and add a shiny star.
Paper & String
- Leftover bits of gift wrap
- String or garden twine
- Gift tags/old Christmas cards or printed greetings
- A hole punch
Use rectangles of wrapping paper to create a strip of colour around your gift. Wrap twine or string around the parcel several times. Alternatively, you can cut squares of paper and slide this behind the string. Cut a greeting from a card or print your own from a printer and add holes with a hole punch. Tie on your message with a little more twine.
Greenery and Pine Cones
- Trimmings from fir trees, holly or rosemary
- Small pine cones
- Optional glittery ornaments or berries
Collect winter greenery and cut into small pieces. Wrap twine around your plain parcel and tuck the leaves, cones and berries into the string.
Add any small glittery Christmas ornaments or glittery pine cones and berries.
Stripy Stars
- Stripy paper straws – 2.5 per star
- Butchers stripy thread
Cut each straw into two halves. String 5 pieces of straw onto some stripy twine and tie together to make a snug loop of straws. Twist the loop so you have two triangles, then gently tuck the pointy top of the straw under the opposite side of the star until it firmly holds together. Jiggle the straws a little to get yourself a symmetrical shape. Loop more stripy string around the points to tie the stars to your parcel…or hang them on your tree.
Happy gift wrapping!
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