How to Decorate a Gift Box

Have fun decorating your own Christmas, birthday or wedding gift boxes by using your imagination. Find a gift box, then add your own die-cut shapes, stamps, ribbons or other embellishments. You may have some leftover gift boxes around the house that you can reuse, or you can find them at any department store.

Things You'll Need

• Gift box
• Double-sided tape
• Die-cut decorative shapes
• Scissors
• Ribbons
• Gel pens
• Acid-free paper
• Craft adhesive
• Sticker art
• Gift tag

Instructions

1. Find a gift box of any size. Fold the four corners of both the top and bottom parts of the box if necessary. Use double-sided tape to attach the corners. This keeps the tape from being visible on the outside as you'll want the gift box to have a clean, professional look.

2. Add some die-cut shapes to your box. Use a few pairs of snowflakes, bells, leaves, flowers or hearts, depending on the occasion. Cut the shapes using some scissors or a die-cutting machine that you can find at a craft store, a department store or on the Internet.

3. Place your decorations on each end of a ribbon with craft adhesive, then form a loop with the ribbon. Tape the ribbon to the top of the gift box. Make sure to put the tape where the ribbons intersect. Cover that tape with an extra decoration or two to hide it.

4. Accent your decorations with colored gel pens. Next, cut into bands two pieces of acid-free paper in the colors of your choice. One piece should be at least 2 inches thick while the second piece should be thinner. Practice with some extra paper until you get the right sizes that are long enough to fit around the box.

5. Stick the thinner strip of paper to the edges of the wider piece with craft adhesive, making a two-colored band. Wrap the band around the center of the box either width- or lengthwise. Hold the two ends together with your fingers so that you can tape the back of the band.

6. Add a large design or centerpiece to the gift box, such as a large bow or flowers. Sticker art from a craft store may work well as the centerpiece. Insert a matching gift tag into the center of the band by using tape or adhesive.

Tips & Warnings

• As an option, you can add gift-wrapping or acid-free paper to the box before following Steps 2, 3 and 4. Solid colors may look the best if you want the focus to be more on your original designs. You can also use craft stamps of different shapes to give your gift box a unique look.

• Avoid using markers on your gift box. They may bleed through the gift-wrapping paper or the box, making the presentation look messy.