How to Save Money When you Wrap Christmas Presents

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By Sheila Wilkinson
eHow Contributing Writer

Article Rating: (1 Ratings)

Fancy bags, gift tags, ribbons and colored tissue paper can eat up your gift money quickly. You can make your gifts can look like a million dollars and save a bundle with a little inspiration and imagination. Read on to learn how.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Brown or white paper bags
Ribbon, sewing notions,
Colored comics
White or colored tissue paper
Gift wrap
Scissors and tape
Miscellaneous bric-a-brac
Old catalogs and magazines

Think about the Gift and the Person You Bought it For

Step 1

Use what you have. For a sewer, use fabric remnants to wrap and decorate with bric-a-brac. Use colored comics, fishing or craft catalogs, golf magazines or any other hobby or interest publication to wrap or for cutouts to decorate with. For a fisherman, choose blue paper and draw waves on it and cut out a fish or dream boat to decorate with. You can use a lure or two in lieu of a bow as well. Use your imagination to wrap a gift that fits the person.
Step 2

Shop all around the house. Do you have leftovers from hobbies you used to do? Scrap booking supplies include lots of wrapping ideas-lovely papers, cute cutouts and lengths of ribbon can make plain white or brown paper original and beautiful. Macrame cord, yarn, old paper doilies, and even kids old coloring books (let them color them in), picture books and tiny odd game pieces can embellish gifts.
Step 3

Think about using part of the gift to wrap with. A pretty winter baby blanket can hold a few rattles and toys and be tied with just ribbon. A Christmas stocking--or pair of socks can hold lots of small items. For fun, buy several packs of socks and wrap things in one sock and then another to make a game for children. A new apron or dish towel can be tied to hold kitchen gadgets, a child's long scarf can hold a teenage doll and wardrobe. These gifts can't be left out with kids around. You'll have to hide them as they'd be awfully tempting to open and look inside.
Step 4

Choose a theme to simplify things. Is your Christmas tree all done up in red? Use one color tissue paper and write on packages with glue and glitter or cut out pictures from Christmas ads, scraps of old wrapping paper or tie with strands of yarn. Is your family involved in gardening? Do your packages up in solid green and use a red marker to draw simple flowers or cut them out of a gardener's magazine or catalog. If you know someplace that sells old seeds for a song, use them as gift tags or to decorate.
Step 5

Decorate with your favorite pictures. Take photos and make copies of them on regular paper. Put a photo or a collage of the person the gift belongs to on the gift. Make a frame out of ribbon or colored markers or frame the photos with stars or hearts. Use little cartoon captions to write captions or decorate with little stickers. Wrap presents for grandma and grandpa in white paper and let kids color all over them and then place pictures of the kids on them.

Comments

SummerBanks said

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on 12/1/2007 I am glad to see a how to on this topic. I use this advice every year. We focus on decorating the brown paper for the holidays we are celebrating.