For the family that wants to personalize their gift wrapping…
The holidays are all about spending time with your loved ones. Spend a full afternoon creating personalized holiday wrapping paper – not only will this make your gift wrapping stand out as unique, it also lends itself to family time and having a story behind the design.
What you’ll need:
2-3 potatoes
Kitchen knife
Paint (we like metallic golds and silvers)
Metal cookie cutter (stars, snowmen, gingerbread, hearts)
Kraft paper (available in brown, white, blue, red, green – for the segment it might look best to use a blue kraft paper with metallic stars)
Waste paper
Directions:
Start by making a custom potato stamp – cut the potatoes in half, then push the metal cookie cutter into the potato and cut around the shape with a kitchen knife. Now you’ve made your stamp! Next, pour paint onto a plate or saucer. Dab the potato into the paint and stamp the potato onto waste paper a few times. Once you get the desired stamp print with just enough paint, start stamping the kraft paper. (Alternatively, we can just use premade rubber stamps with ink pads- up to you!) Create enough potato stamps for everyone in the family, so you can stamp together. Leave the paper to dry.
Once the paper is dry you can get to wrapping! Friends and family will definitely ask about where you got such fun wrapping – and now you’ll have a great story to share with them.
For the family that wants to upcycle their holiday tree…
For families who head to the farm, local garden center or outdoor market to pick up their holiday trees, chances are you’ll lose a few branches here and there, or the farm or merchant will have scraps of balsam lying around. Upcycle those branches to create festive wrapping that also smells great!
What you’ll need:
Loose tree trimmings (optional: pinecones)
Twine or red ribbon (will create a nice visual color contrast)
Solid colored kraft or wrapping paper (I suggest we use brown kraft paper)
Tape
Scissors
Directions:
Wrap the gifts as you normally would using the kraft paper. Depending on the size of the packages, trim the tree trimmings to size, group a few branches together and use the twine or ribbon to fasten to the gift boxes.
For the family that wants a lot of excitement in their gift wrap…
Go for layers! Use wrapping papers from the same color family, like blues and greens or whites and silvers. Add fun elements like paper tassels, washi tape, bells, pompoms, ribbons and whatever else you find at the craft store that sparks your creativity. There’s a huge opportunity for fun design here. Just be sure to stick to your color range so the gift wrapping still feels cohesive.
What you’ll need:
A variety of wrapping paper
A variety of ribbons and strings
Washi tape
Pompoms
Bells
Paper tassels
Scissors
Tape
Directions:
Start with your base layer. Choose any of your wrapping papers to start. Fully wrap the gift. Next, let your creativity run wild! Cut accent paper strips from your other wrapping paper to layer your gift wrap. Alternatively (or additionally!) use washi tape to add fun accents and pops of color on the wrapping. Do, or don’t, use ribbon. If you have ribbon or string, use it to fasten bells or tassels to the gifts. If you omit ribbon, glue pompoms or other decor to the gift wrap. This option allows for lots of creativity – it is what you make it!
For the family that always remembers to leave cookies out on Christmas Eve…
If you and your loved ones just can’t wait until Christmas to get a glimpse of the man in red – adorn your presents under the tree in Santa style wrappings. Kids will love this and it’s great for families who like their gift wrapping color coordinated!
What you’ll need:
Red wrapping paper
Gold glitter scrapbooking paper
Black wrapping or kraft paper
Scissors
Tape
Santa hat gift tags
Directions:
Use a pencil on the back of the gold glitter paper to draw a belt shape. Cut out the gold belt and use that one as a stencil for the other gold belts (you’ll need one per gift). Wrap the gift boxes in red paper. Cut a strip of black paper and wrap it once around the box. Glue on the gold belt buckle. Sign your name and the gift recipient’s name on the santa hat gift tag.
IDEAS FOR GIFT TAGS:
Another opportunity to customize…
Instead of writing out everyone’s names on gift tags, choose a few of your favorite photos of you and your gift recipient from the past year. Print the photos out using a service like miniprints from Social Print Studio, Artifact Uprising or Minted. Fasten the photo to the gift using ribbon, twine or tape. Feel free to write a personal note on the back of the photo, or not! Either way, your gift recipient will immediately know the gift is theirs, and they’ll appreciate the personal touch.
Print fancy typography gift tags from home…
There are tons of amazing designers who have created festive and fancy typography gift tags that are totally free to print out at home! We recommend investing in a good card stock or resume paper so they tags have some substance. Printing tags at home give you lots of flexibility in how to cut them out, what size to make them, and how to use them. This is so easy and very cost effective.
Reduce by creating reusable gift tags…
Cut shapes from heavy duty cardstock, punch a hole somewhere in the cardstock so you can fasten them to gifts with ribbon or string, and then paint over the cardstock with 2-3 coats of chalkboard paint. A little water and the chalk will rub the chalk writing right off. Then, you can store the tags for reuse at next year’s festivities! Try using chalkboard markers for more color options and a more semi permanent marking on the tags.
DIY WINE BOTTLE WRAPPING
Holiday parties are a popular time to attend parties. Be a great party guest by bringing your host a bottle (or two) of wine adorned with festive wrapping! Here’s a few ideas:
Repurpose an old sweater into a cozy wine sleeve!
What you’ll need:
A bottle of wine
An old sweater (scour the thrift stores for a cozy one looking for a new life!)
2″ – 3″ of felt fabric, similar to the color of your sweater
Sewing machine or needle and thread
Fabric scissors
Ribbon or yard
Gift tag
Directions:
Wash the sweater. Then, start by inserting the wine bottle into the sleeve of the sweater. The sleeve should start just below the top of your wine bottle. Mark the sweater with length of your bottle, pull out the wine and cut the sweater sleeve off. Place the wine bottle on the small square of fabric and trace a faint circle around the bottle. Give yourself an extra 1/4″-1/2″ outside of the bottle. Cut out this circle. Turn the sweater sleeve inside out and pin the fabric to the cut end of the sleeve. Sew together. Turn right side out. To complete the look, tie ribbon or yarn around the bottle neck and affix hang tag.
Use kraft paper to create a wine wrap/label that’s easy to customize!
What you’ll need:
Kraft paper (brown or black)
Artificial red berries
Fresh rosemary
Bakers twine
Floral wire
Gift tags
Chalk markers
Directions:
Tightly wrap the wine bottles in kraft paper (wrap red wine with the black kraft paper, and white wine with the brown kraft paper)
Assemble artificial red berries in a wreath shape, fasten together with floral wire
Assemble mini rosemary wreaths by putting 2-3 fresh rosemary sprigs in a circle and fastening together with floral wire
Place red berry wreath on the bottle neck of white wine bottle. Use bakers twine to affix hanging gift tag for wine recipient.
Affix mini rosemary wreath to red wine bottle neck by wrapping bakers twine around the bottle neck, and then securing the wreath to the front of the bottle. Tie excess bakers twine in bow at the top of the rosemary wreath.
Use chalk markers to write a personal note on the kraft paper
Wine bottle decorating for the reindeer lovers…
What you’ll need:
Hot glue
Brown pipe cleaners
Googly eyes
Red pompom
Red and white ribbon
Directions:
Twist pipe cleaners to fit tightly around the top of the wine bottle neck. Add extra pipe cleaners to create “antlers.” Use a hot glue gun to affix googly eyes and a red pompom (“nose”) to the middle of the wine bottle neck. Wrap ribbon around the base of the bottle neck to create a “scarf” – and voila! Now you have a bottle of festive wine to bring to holiday parties!
