Creative Gift Wrapping for Kids.
I love to get creative with wrapping gifts. Whether it’s up-cycling a boring brown paper bag or turning a present into a little creature, it can be so much fun and kids just love to receive a present that looks fun before they have even torn the paper off!.
My first tip is to put the gift in a box; boxes are much easier to wrap than something that is ball or teddy bear shaped! So, keep your old shoe boxes and Amazon delivery boxes, as they will definitely come in handy.
You can buy lots of lovely wrapping paper these days, however, I’d urge you to buy wrapping paper that can be recycled. So, how do you know if the paper can be recycled: for starters it needs to be pure paper, it shouldn’t be foiled or have any glitter on it and when you scrunch it up, it should stay scrunched. Also, if you buy recycled wrapping paper, the chances are it can be recycled again. I would recommend you take a look at PlanetWrapIt for some great recycled and recyclable wrapping papers.
Character Wrapping
With some coloured paper, masking taper, scissors, glue and some googlie eyes, you can make all sorts of characters and creatures. Inside these cute critters were gifts for bug hunting, such as a bug identification book and a magnifying glass.
Up-cycling
I like to try and do some up-cycling where I can. There are so many way you can repurpose things around the house and turn them into gorgeous gift wrapping. Sample pieces or left over bits of wall paper also makes great wrapping paper. As do pages from an old street map, a newspaper or from a magazine.
You can also make some really pretty gift bags from a boring brown paper bag or from a paper shopping bag, that you can reinvent into something new.
Handmade Wrapping Paper
This is a great one to get the kids involved in! If you have paper on a roll, like for use on an easel, or an old roll of lining paper, or some plain brown Kraft paper, these work really well to make wrapping paper from (IKEA sell the MALA drawing paper on a roll). Whether your kids draw paint, do potato prints, lino prints, sponge prints, crayon rubbings, or collage and decoupage, you can create something fun and eye catching.
Here are our Christmas presents wrapped in Lily’s drawings:
Hand printed paper is a very quick, easy and effective way to make your own paper. I made the stamps myself from some sheet foam and then stuck them to some empty containers so we had something to hold onto. The gingerbread man was done using a plastic cookie cutter and the heart stamp was made from a toilet roll.
Fabric
If you are anything like me and have a stash of fabric hidden in the cupboard, then making little drawstring bags for gift bags is super simple and is a great way to use up all the fabric scraps.
Furoshiki is the Japanese art of wrapping gifts in pieces of fabric. You can use all sorts of things from leftover fabric, scarves, saris, old bed sheets etc. These fabric wraps are from Pri Pri.
