11 Weeks of Wonder #10- Top 10 DIY Gift Wrapping Ideas

Can you believe that Christmas is only a few days away?!

So far in this holiday planning series, we’ve picked the perfect holiday card, mixed up some festive cocktails, done a little baking, a little cooking, and even found presents for your foodie friends. Now, this week it’s time to tackle one of the things that frustrates me the most during the holidays- wrapping presents! Today I’m sharing with you my Top 10 DIY Gift Wrapping Ideas.

If there is one skill I’m lacking in life, it’s gift wrapping. I cannot, for the life of me, ever get my corners sharp or my seams straight. More often than not I mis-judge the amount of paper needed and end up having to put a little patch on it somewhere. Despite my valiant efforts, I usually have a haphazard mess that doesn’t do justice to the awesome gift hidden underneath.

I don’t like feeling defeated, especially by something as silly as paper and tape. So this year I’m on a mission. A mission to not only wrap a present, but to make it the most festive, spectacular, Martha-worthy wrapping job this side of the Mississippi! Ok, so that might be overshooting it just a tad (especially considering my crafting skills- or lack thereof), but I’ll settle for anything that doesn’t look like my 6 year old wrapped it!

I took a little stroll through my local craft store and gathered up a few supplies. Armed with kraft paper, ribbon, glue, and several pounds of glitter, I got down to work. I chose to use kraft paper (or as it was labeled at the store “dust cover paper”) so that I wouldn’t have to worry about aligning patterns at the seams. Now that I’ve tried it, I think I’ll be sticking with kraft paper from here on out! It was easy to work with and I love the way everything turned out.

Below are my Top 10 DIY Gift Wrapping Ideas, but check out my Pinterest board for even more inspiration:
Follow Christin @ Blue Crab Martini’s board WRAPPED WITH LOVE on Pinterest.

#1: This is for one of my 2 year old’s preschool teachers. I started by gathering some branches and spray painting them silver. Then I glued on some red pom poms and wrapped the box with a white satin ribbon. Next, I wrote “merry” with a glue pen and covered with silver glitter. This is such a classy and elegant wrapping, and I hope my son’s teacher loves it!

#2: Remember those adorable Cinnamon Salt Sough Ornaments I shared with you recently? Well, I thought they would make a fun and festive embellishment on a gift bag! I tied them onto a plain brown bag and decorated it with a cute piece of gingerbread scrapbook paper and a little burlap ribbon. I finished it off with a handwritten “Merry Christmas” tag. This is two gifts in one- a festive present and handmade ornaments!

#3: This is one of my favorites! I found this beautiful red burlap cardinal at the craft store and decided it would pair perfectly with some pine cones that my oldest son found in Southern Maryland last weekend. I clipped the cardinal onto the pine cone branch and glued it to the wrapped box. Then I wrapped the box with a green burlap ribbon and adorned it with a glue and glitter “JOY” and burlap holly berries.

#4: These fingerprint snowman are a fun way to get your kids involved in gift wrapping. We created this adorable gift bag using a white ink pad and a little creativity! Use your fingerprints to make the snowman shapes and then decorate with a fine tip marker. Simple and easy but super cute.

#5: While cruising the aisles of the craft store, I found this copper colored cookie cutter (try saying that 5 times fast haha)! I immediately thought it would make a cute embellishment on a gift box. This one is for my youngest son’s other preschool teacher (he has two), and I really hope she likes it! I began by gluing the top of the box with a green burlap ribbon and then wrapping it with thick green yarn. I made a simple white satin bow and attached the cookie cutter.

#6: It’s hard to see in the pictures, but these white snowflakes are really glittery and sparkly. For this gift bag, I attached one of the snowflakes with a ribbon and decorated the bag with glitter and glue hand drawn snowflakes. This one is really pretty when the light of the Christmas tree catches it!

#7: I loved the little sparkly snowflakes so much that I wanted to use them again on a gift box. Don’t they look elegant when paired with the rustic burlap ribbon? I began by wrapping the box with burlap and a white ribbon, and then glued a few of the snowflakes to it. So simple! This box, and the snowflake bag above make the perfect pair!

#8: Washi tape is all the rage in DIY crafts (at least according to Pinterest), so I thought I’d use it to make a cute little holiday gift bag. Using two different styles of tape, I created this Christmas tree design and decorated it with a little gold glitter. This is a perfect last minute DIY wrapping idea- took me all of 2 minutes to make!

#9: I recently learned how to make yarn pom poms and thought they would be really cute on a holiday gift (instead of those plastic store bought bows). I decorated the box with a festive piece of scrapbook paper and a little glitter, then finished it off with a pompom made of sparkly white yarn. You can learn to make a pom pom from watching this short video.

#10: I’ve been really into plaid prints this holiday season, so when I saw this red and black paper I knew I had to use it! This is simply a few pieces of decorative scrapbook paper layered on top of one another, and finished off with a handwritten “Merry” message.