  | Homemade Christmas Gift Wrapping | |||
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The bold, bright colours of crepe paper make it a very good inexpensive form of gift wrap - you can jazz it up a bit with ribbons or raffia - raffia seems to go particularly well. Another option is brown parcel paper. Here the key is versatility. You can keep it plain & use beautiful ribbons & bows to decorate - the contrast is very effective. And the great thing about using lots of lovely ribbon is that hopefully the recipient will save it & use it themselves next year or incorporate it into their own Christmas decorations. Alternatively you can use your brown paper as the basis for a creative extravaganza. Go to town with potato prints, gold spray, glitter glue & metallic paints, stickers etc. etc. to make something totally unique & fabulous. This is a great fun project for kids who particularly enjoy the paint splattering technique (flicking a brush/toothbrush loaded with paint) - just remember to cover anything you don't want splattered! You can buy lining paper (which is used as a base for wallpapering) from DIY stores for as little as £2.50 per 10 metre roll. It is plain white paper that could be the basis for some gift wrap experimentation. You could use stencils, marbling or printing to create wrapping paper that is truly unique. Spray paint would be quick and easy way of giving it a Christmassy sparkle. It's a good idea to try & save boxes through the year so that you can cover them with pretty paper to Some sustainable giftwrapping ideas Gift wrap is just not very eco-friendly. Why not try & be creative & use something that kind be used again by the recipient. If you can use a sewing machine then you could make a cotton shopping bag & use it as gift wrap (Morsbags have a great pattern), or you can buy them quite cheaply. The team at Christmas Matters believes that you can never have enough cloth shopping bags - especially pretty ones. Inexpensive teatowels also make a great gift wrap (although maybe not for your 7 year old nephew...) - you can use tape & ribbon to tie up the parcels. Another option is to make a Christmas gift bag using Christmassy fabric or paper. Hopefully your recipient will get the hint & re-use the bag next year. Felt is a good choice for little bags because you don't have to worry about raw edges. You can also get hold of metal mesh fabrics which look fantastic & again don't fray. You could even try making a stocking for re-use by your recipient. Children love big bits of fabric they can use to dress up in, hide under, put toys to bed under. You can actually buy items called 'Playsilks' which are designed for that very purpose. These would make fantastic gift wrap & another bit of the present. You can easily make them yourself - any large piece of fabric would do - although they work better if they are light. Some Gift Tags Ideas Set your kids to work with scissors & hole punches on last year's Christmas cards - this is quick & reduces waste. Old fashioned parcel tags can look very effective - especially with the brown paper wrapping. Printing labels on your PC might sound a bit impersonal, but you could include pictures (why not a photo of you & your family?) and then customise the labels with glitter & ribbons etc afterwards. | ||||
Some inexpensive wrapping ideas
create gift
boxes. These are good if you are giving presents which are awkward
shapes or homemade edible gifts which need a lot of protection from
squishing. You can also save and reuse gift wrap & wrapping that comes with mail order purchases.