Inexpensive Homemade Gift Wrapping Ideas
Original Wrapping Paper for Christmas and Birthday Gifts
Dec 17, 2007
Of the numerous Christmas chores – buying gifts, writing cards, grocery shopping, and holiday baking – one that many people find to be a particular burdon is wrapping the many Christmas gifts. For a large family, this can mean hours of work at a time of year when there is so much else to be done.
Gift Wrapping Options
The easiest way to have presents wrapped is to ask someone else to do it. This is a benefit of purchasing gifts online, as many websites will offer a gift wrapping service. There is often a fee involved, which is not always feasible when there are more than just a few gifts to wrap. When braving the crowds at the mall, there is always the free gift wrapping in department stores, but waiting in the queue can eat into precious shopping time.
Wrapping presents is not only time consuming, but can also be quite costly. The cheaper rolls of printed paper seem to only come in small lengths that are useless for larger gifts, and in addition are too flimsy for gifts that need to stay wrapped for longer than a couple of hours. Larger rolls of thicker paper are needed for awkwardly shaped presents, but these are expensive. Watching all the expensive wrappings go in the bin at the end of a present-opening frenzy can be exasperating.
Simple Inexpensive Ideas for Creating Original Gift Wrapping
- Rolls of plain craft or butcher paper make a wonderful canvas for budding artists. Give each child a pot each of green and red paint and a brush and let them loose for festive Christmas gifts. Grandparents and young children particularly like receiving gifts decorated in these brightly coloured homemade wrappings.
- For smaller hands, cut simple shapes out of foam (kitchen sponges work well) and make printed paper. Alternatively, children can use handprints or feetprints to decorate in their favourite colours.
- Buy large rolls of gold or silver paper from craft stores. For Christmas accent with red and green ribbon or Christmas stickers. For birthdays or other celebrations, use a favourite coloured ribbon or bow.
- Head to a packaging company that sells in bulk and look for novel giftbox ideas. Noodle boxes (particularly useful for homemade gifts of food) and plain white cartons and bags are all cheaper here than store-bought. Again – just jazz them up with ribbons and stickers. They often stock bulk rolls of plain or simply printed wrapping paper as well.
- Keep old Christmas and birthday cards. You can glue them to the front of paper bags for an easy alternative to wrapping paper.
- Make the wrap part of the gift! Soft material items can become the wrapping for accompanying gifts. T-shirts, aprons, linens, teatowels and beachtowels can all be wrapped around smaller gifts and tied with a festive ribbon or string.
- Turn cheap tissue paper into artistic wrapping by combining and overlapping different colours.
- Put all children’s gifts into a “Santa Sack” for Christmas. These can be purchased or personalised with their owner’s individual style by using fabric paint on plain white pillowcases.
- Save cardboard boxes in varying sizes over the year. It’s easier to wrap a box than an oddly shaped gift, plus it will save on paper.
Budget wrapping paper options don't have to look cheap and nasty. With a little time and creativity, it is possible to create beautiful gifts with a personal touch.
Related Article: 101 Great Gifts from Kids
