Creative Ideas for Wrapping Christmas Presents
Creative Christmas wrapping ideas that are free and or easy to do using items you already own. All the doable ideas will get your gifts in festive holiday style in a matter of minutes.
I am at the finish line to Christmas preparations. I just completed wrapping presents that I bought to give to family and friends this year.
I can now sit back and enjoy the days up until Christmas Day. I have everything that needed to be done checked off my to-do list. :-)
Do you have a lot of gifts to wrap and want to get the task done quickly, but in an elegant and festive way?
Here are a few gift wrapping tips, ideas and even gift tags for you to use that will coordinate with any style and color gift wrap you are using.
Gather Christmas Gift Wrapping Supplies
To get started, first, go around your house and gather a few supplies beyond just paper, scissors and tape.
- If you have any craft supplies or office supplies, head there first. I bet you will find many items that can be used to wrap gifts this year.
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Creative Christmas Gift Wrapping Items to Consider Using:
- Kraft paper, maps, sheet music, brown paper bags, butcher paper, and freezer paper are just a few types of paper you can use besides ready-made holiday gift wrap
- Any gift wrap or bows you may have on hand
- Yarn, ribbon, tulle
- Glitter
- Spray glue
- Gift tags – A collection of Free Printable Gift Tags
- Christmas greeting cards that you may have saved from previous years
- Vintage brooches or old junk jewelry
- Office file sticker labels
- Scissors and clear tape
I gathered all my gift wrapping supplies on my work table and started wrapping.
Having set up a gift wrapping wall in my studioffice makes wrapping a gift much easier. If you don’t have a work table, a kitchen or dining table is the next best surface for wrapping.
You can find how I set up my craft room in this post: Studioffice Tour
Creative Christmas Wrapping Ideas
1. Free Printable: Minimalist Gift Tags
I recently made free printable minimal gift tags. I wanted tags that will coordinate with any color or style gift wrap as so many found online have a distinctive style or color.
Plus, unlike many other free printable gift tags that use a lot of printer ink to print, these will be friendly to your printer cartridge. I printed the tags on white, red and green card stock.
The gift tags are designed to be used both vertically or horizontally. They can be glued directly on a gift with a glue-stick or can also be punched with a hole to tie on a gift with a ribbon.
The link to print them out can be found here:
2. Christmas Gift Wrap Done in Minutes
I worked for Nordstrom one Christmas many years ago. They used tulle when they wrapped their signature boxes. Since working there, I have used tulle as a fast and elegant way to embellish a gift. It is what I call, elegantly simple or simply elegant. Either way you look at it – gifts wrapped in tulle are very festive.
Tulle is sold in rolls at craft and sewing stores. It comes in many colors and it very inexpensive. Some rolls even have sparkly glitter which looks especially festive for holiday gift wrap.
I bought it in a few colors since I think a little sparkle always looks right for the holidays.
As you can see on the flat package above – a small piece of tulle packs a lot of punch.
3. Add Glitter to Make Any Wrapping Paper Look Festive
If you have old paper that is faded or wrinkled, or if you simply want your gift to say festive and holiday, glitter your gift wrap. All you need is some spray glue and a container of glitter.
I like using white glitter, but gold, silver or any color glitter will look just as festive.
And don’t stop at just glittering the gift wrap paper. Glitter the whole wrapped box, ribbon, bow and all.
I had a pre-made bow that was a little smashed, but when sprayed with spray glue and sprinkled with glitter, it came to life again. I placed it on a paper snowflake to give it more pizazz.
4. Use Satin Ribbon, Old Jewelry or Jingle Bells
Nothing says what an elegant gift more than satin ribbon. I look for satin ribbon all year long and when it goes on sale. I have even been lucky to find a few rolls at my local thrift store for 95 cents a roll.
I also use all sorts of leftover ribbon and snippets of pretty items that I have accumulated over the past year to embellish wrapped gifts.
Vintage looking pins and earrings are perfect for embellishing bows. I find them in the bargain bins at the craft store and at thrift stores. I think they make a gift look extra special – as do jingle bells. I hot glue the pins on and thread the jingle bells through the ribbon or yarn.
5. Use Two Types of Ribbon Scraps
If you don’t have enough ribbon, use two different types of ribbon for one gift.
Since satin ribbon is a little more expensive, I use every scrap. It is fun coming up with ways to use the smallest pieces. Here I wrapped a small piece around a small box. I used tape to secure the ends.
I then took a piece of tulle and placed it under the satin ribbon and made a bow with it. This hides the tape and creates a box that anyone would be delighted in receiving.
Add a tag and it is ready to go.
6. Repurpose Old Christmas Cards to Make Gift Tags
Save each year’s Christmas cards you receive to make budget-friendly gift tags.
Some Christmas cards are just too pretty or cute to throw away.
Cut out designs, words, or images that you like or think is a good fit for the recipient of the gift and punch a hole in them to use as free gift tags. Reuse, repurpose, and recycle at its best.
- When cutting out your images, always cut out an extra part of the card above the image to make the hole using a paper hole punch. This way the image stays whole.
When attaching the tag to ribbon: thread the tag onto the ribbon right before you start to make the loops for the bow.
You can write To: and From: on the back of the cut out images so you know who every wrapped gift is for.
7. Label Stickers Can Become Simple Gift Tags
On some gifts, I don’t use gift tags. I use white office file stickers on the underside of the box and just write the recipient’s name.
Have you finished wrapping yet? What are your favorite ways to wrap the gifts you give?
More Creative Christmas Ideas
- Mason Jar Crafts: Christmas Gift Bag
- 40+ DIY Christmas Decorating Ideas Done In Minutes
- How to Make a Christmas Ornament Into a Lamp Finial
Now that you have all of the gifts wrapped or at least have a plan, don’t miss the ideas for budget friendly Christmas decorations for your home.