I remember the first year I attached ornaments and LED lights to my family’s gifts and everyone thought I was some kind of gift-wrapping genius. I didn’t think anything of it, I had a few extra flat ornaments and thought spelling out ‘Ho Ho Ho’ would be a nice touch (plus I mean, let’s be real – I love any project that involves a glue gun). I loved seeing the excitement on their faces, so ever since then I’ve enjoyed taking that extra step to make the package I’m gifting a little more inviting. The best part is that creative gift wrapping can be so simple and inexpensive. I often use recycled items around my house to add that final touch. Here are four simple and inexpensive ways you can impress your recipient this season:
Sheet Music
My husband is a musician so we always have sheet music around the house. The musically gifted side of the family (his, certainly not mine) love this gift wrapping touch! If you don’t have sheet music lying around, you can print some online or stop by an antique store for extremely affordable vintage sheet music. You can also go the extra mile and print holiday sheet music like Jingle Bells to really impress your loved ones. Add a cute ribbon and ornaments with either hot or super glue. Bonus tip: when in doubt, always add an ornament!
Animals Bearing Gifts
This was quite possibly the most fun I’ve had wrapping gifts. These gift bearing animals will appeal to both adults and kids; both my six year old niece and 30 something friend absolutely loved these. To make these, you can either “borrow” a little plastic animal from your child’s toy box or pick one of these up at most craft or toy stores. I found the elephant at craft store and the camel at the dollar store. Bonus tip: Try using metallic spray paint on the animals for a more festive look!
Recycled paper bags
It seems like every gift on Pinterest is wrapped with recycled paper bags and I understand why! Not only is it a great way to recycle a bag, but the simple blank canvas gives you room for endless possibilities. You can write, draw, attach ornaments, greenery, beautiful ribbon – you name it. For these, I used butcher’s twine for the ribbon and glued trees and vintage ornaments from the thrift store. Buying vintage ornaments secondhand is a great way (and one of my favorite ways) to add an interesting element to any gift. You can often buy them in variety grab bags for a couple bucks.
Fabric
If you have leftover fabric from another project, consider using it to wrap gifts this season. Wrap it like you would any gift and use sewing pins to secure the fabric. Just be sure to let your recipient know about the pins! You can even use an old shirt or dress with an interesting print to do this as well.
Happy Wrapping!
This post appeared on ThredUp’s thrEDIT blog. Visit their blog to see several other creative holiday projects!