Homemade Gift-Wrapping Ideas

Homemade gifts don’t have to be time-consuming or bank-breaking.  It used be that, not to long ago, it took five minutes to make an ornament, scribble on a t-shirt, or glue some stuff together.  It was also done with stuff that you already had lying around the house, which was the whole point of homemade gifts (to save money).

However, homemade gift giving has become an art to a level of sacredness that is hard to achieve for most.  We have gone back to buying gift cards or stuff from the Christmas section at Wal Mart (you know what I’m talking about.  The aisles of foot baths, shaving kits, bath robes and notebooks…).

Even if you decide not to go with a homemade gift, you can still do homemade wrapping, which still seems to make the recipient equally as happy.  Apparently the fact that you put the time, effort, and thought  into doing something for someone warms their hearts.

I have to reveal my favorite, emergency gift-wrapping idea before I can go any further-  there are designs that you can download and print out at your home computer, using your regular old printing paper and black printer ink.  Out will come a beautiful decorated and shaded piece of wrapping paper, covered in cute little candy boxes, or butterflies, or what-have-you.

If you have a small gift that you are giving, you can buy some cute card stock from your local craft store and print out some designs  from  online.  Some of the boxes don’t even require glue- they hold together with slots.  Those would be the heart-shaped ones.  Or you can choose a pillow design templates, cubes, or the ever-popular Chinese take out box.

Whoever said that you need to put candy in candy boxes?  Try switching to gift bags.  Once again, you can print out templates from online onto cute card stock, or you can navigate into adventurous territory by cleverly decorating plain old, brown lunch sacks.  This last one is super popular as the whole “shabby chic” trend is going around.

While we’re talking about how unnecessary candy boxes are, allow me to mention origami.  How fun would it be to unwrap a piece of origami and find a decadent piece of chocolate nestled inside?  These are perfect for party favors.

Finally, I think it’s important to remember that the wrapping in itself can be simple, and that you can really dominate the package with embellishments.  Go with extra-wide ribbons and enormous flowers.  Use products that normally wouldn’t come to mind, like string with sprigs of flower tucked under the knot.  Do what you like.