Children's Crafts

Homemade Gift Bags

By editor ⋅ September 15, 2008 ⋅ Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

Recycled gift bags

Hand-Painted Bags

I just added this art project for children, showing how to make Hand-Painted Gift Bags. The girls demonstrating this project used a plastic bottle to stamp paint on plain gift bags, but there’s room for lots of creative variations. Try stamping the bags with cut vegetables (an apple, pear, green pepper, or cut a design in half a potato). Other items to try: corks, seashells or shapes cut from foam meat trays (tip: glue an eraser or cork to the back of a foam shape to give you a handle).

You can give a new look to old gift bags by refurbishing them with pretty papers. Leftover wallpaper would be a great choice, but so would gift wrap or scrapbook paper for smaller bags. Recycled Gift Bags also gives directions to make new bags by using the old bags as a pattern.

If you prefer to make gift bags from fabric, check out the free patterns from the excellent sewing site, CraftandFabricLinks. You’ll find fabric layouts and directions to make three different styles of fabric gift bags, including this Drawstring Bag, which is about nine inches wide by 12 inches long and uses only 1/3 yard of fabric.

The Gift and Wine Bags Pattern, shown at right, provides directions to make four different sizes of fabric bags - from just one yard of fabric!

Tags: fabric, gift bags, homemade, kids, paint, paper, recycle, sew