DIY: Creative Ways To Gift Wrap

I’m not sure what’s more fun – buying gifts for people that you love, or wrapping them! I’ve always loved wrapping gifts and it’s funny because I’m terrible at doing it the traditional way… You could always tell which gifts were from me growing up because of the wrinkled, disheveled wrapping paper.  But I do love getting creative with gift wrapping and coming up with alternative ways to do it, making your gifts even more personalized and special.  Check out some of the creative ways we’re wrapping gifts this holiday season!

Inspired by this image I found on Pinterest, I fell in love with the idea of wrapping gifts in cloth – why not wrap the gift in a kitchen towel that can also be part of the gift? I used a dish towel that I dyed a light shade of pink way back when I did my experimenting with natural dye. I would love to dye a bunch of towels different colors and wrap gifts with them, just think how beautiful they would look under the tree! Here’s how I wrapped the gift:

Lately I’ve also been really into the idea of wrapping gifts with old maps! I did a cross country road trip a few years back and during the trip I collected maps from each state I visited, so I have tons of them lying around.  Turns out, they make really adorable wrapping paper! Bonus points if you wrap someone’s gift in a map for a city or country they’re planning on visiting :).

I love adding a natural touch to gifts as well, so I topped it off with some greens and a gift tag that I made by simply painting some card stock gold.

In my opinion, one of the prettiest ways to wrap gifts is using plain old brown paper. It’s simple and leave you lots of room to get creative and personalize it – I decorated my gift with a small crochet doily and some flowers.

For the finishing touch a made a star-shaped gift tag and painted it gold.

Here’s another example of how we personalize a gift wrapped in brown paper! FP Naomi added some intricate yarn and gold leaf feathers on her gifts.

Lastly, one of our FP girls wrapped her gifts in these beautiful cloth bags, and shared how she made them!

What you need:

– Cloth shipping bags (available for purchase here)

– Acrylic paint and glitter of the same color

– String or decorative ribbon/trim

– Some “jazz” (we used bits of green, belly dancer bells and wooden light bulbs)

– Glitter sealer (yes they do make such a thing!) or polycrylic

– Paint brushes

– Tape

First, decide where and how big you want the glitter area to be and tape off a straight line. Apply paint to the bag in the “glitter zone” –  you want a pretty thick coat of paint but keep it smooth.  Once the area is covered generously, douse the area in glitter that matches the color of the paint. Shake off the excess glitter and hang the bag to dry – give it a day to be safe.

The next step is crucial to avoid glitter bombing your whole house, family, friends, and pets.  Lay bags outside, cover the un-glittered area with paper, and apply a thick coat of Glitter Sealer (I found some at Dick Blick). Let the first coat dry for about 15 minutes then apply another thick coat and let dry.  Now your glitter is locked in place right where you want it!

Use the same paint and glitter technique for the glittered wooden light bulbs, but use polycrylic to seal the glitter – it gives them a bit of gloss.

Now, all you need to do is stuff the bags with that special gift and add trim, jazz, a gift tag or whatever else your heart desires. The great thing is that the bags are reusable!  You can even use the wooden lights bulb as an ornament after the gift has been opened :).

What’s your favorite creative way to wrap gifts? Let us know in the comments!

More DIY projects from the BLDG 25 Blog.