12 Days of Holiday Crafts, Day 1: Decorating Gift Bags

A friend recently asked if I had any ideas for dressing up simple, recycled gift bags for Christmas. Making gift-wrap was on my list this season, so I gathered supplies. Gift bags are much easier to reuse last longer than wrapping paper. To decorate the bags, we used bits and pieces of ribbon saved from last year—finally, a use for ribbon scraps!

I highly recommend gathering friends for this project. It’s a good one for sharing supplies and chatting while you work (and also enjoying a few treats).

At the end of our craft session we made few gift bags for my friend Matthew to give to his grandparents. Kid’s art is some of my favorite at Christmas time. We kept this batch very simple, decorating white bags with red and green handprints, but it was quite fun.

To make recycled ribbon gift bags, you will need:

• plain paper gift bags (recycled is best)
• leftover bits of ribbon
• a craft knife
• hot glue.

Woven ribbon bags : Cut slits in the bag at equal intervals slightly larger than the width of your ribbon. Cut ribbon slightly longer than the width of the bag and weave it through the slits. I found it easier to cut the slits under the reinforcement for the handles.

Tied ribbon bags : cut two slits about ½” in from each side, near the top of the bag. cut two pieces of ribbon, long enough to tie a nice bow. Pull an end of a piece of ribbon in through each slit and hot glue the end on the inside of the bag. Tie a bow, and trim the end.

Ribbon & rickrack tree bags : Cut lengths of green ribbon or rickrack in gradually shorter lengths to make a basic Christmas tree shape, and then glue them to the bag with hot glue, leaving some space between the branches. Add a yellow button as the star!

Handprint bags : These bags require some non-toxic acrylic paint, sponge brushes and small hands, but are again very simple and festive. Paint one small hand red and one green (discourage the small person from “seeing what the colors look like mixed”—it’s not pretty), and press the hands, in varying angles, on the bag. Our rule was that the hand not on the bag needed to be up in the air to avoid getting paint where it wasn’t wanted. (And we watched the colors mix in the sink while washing up, which made everyone happy).

Happy wrapping!