Thursday, November 17, 2011

# birthdays # Christmas

DIY: Gift Bags from Wrapping Paper



You can make gift bags, treat bags, or lunch bags from any kind of paper. These are especially handy if you're trying to save some cash or have a particular paper design you'd like to use to match a party theme. Here is a step by step guide on how to make your own decorative bag.

It looks a little overwhelming at first but it is really easy. After you do the first one you'll get the hang of it and you'll be able to make bigger bags or smaller bags.

You will need:
  • Scissors
  • Glue or tape (I used invisible gift wrap tape- I'm too impatient to let things dry. Invisible tape works great and looks fine or you can use double sided tape on the inside of the seams for an even cleaner look.)
  • Paper (to make a lunch bag size, cut your paper into a 14"x17" rectangle


TIP: Target sells rolls of wrapping paper in their dollar section every now and then. It already measures 17" in width. You can get a lot of bags out these cheap rolls. (I love Target!)

What you're going to do:

1) Start out with your paper faced down on your table- long sides of the rectangle at the top and bottom, shorter sides on the right and left.



2) Bring the right and left sides together in the middle, overlapping one of the sides slightly (about 1/2"). When your seam is all lined up, press the sides down flat and tape the seam shut.




3) Roll the taped middle seam to the right about 1.5" and press sides down to create a new side seam. Roll the original taped middle seam back to the middle then roll it to the left about 1.5". Now you should have 3 side seams on each side.





4) Push the middle side seams inward and flatten your "bag" down.


5) Now we'll work on the bottom of the bag. Fold the last 2" of the bag upward.


6) From the 2" fold mark, fold the bag up one more inch. (This will be important when you collapse your bag)


7) Unfold the bag and open the bottom to create a rectangle. Push the sides of the rectangle in, as though you were wrapping a gift box without the box. It makes it easier to fold the bottom if you stand the bag upside down with the bottom part up.



(I'm switching over to this white paper because it's a little easier to see how this works.)


8) Line up the seams so you have a crisp base on your bag.


At this point you can collapse your bag down to make it easier to tape (or glue) down.



9) Tape the side with the original middle seam up first.


10) Tape the side with no seam down second.


Open your bag!



Here's a way you can create "windows" in your treat bags.

I'm using this wrapping paper because it has a circle I can cut out quite easily.


Cut out your window shape and then glue (or tape) cellophane over your window. Proceed to follow steps 1-10 above.


Ta-da!



I love this red and white polka dot paper. Can you imagine how cute it would be for a Minnie Mouse themed birthday party? Or, add a pretty green ribbon for the holidays!

20 comments:

  1. Great tutorial! I prefer gift bags over paper and this is good to know! Thanks for sharing it! I hope you'll share more of your projects too!

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  2. A very clear and detailed tutorial! Thanks so much! :)

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  3. Found you on Pintrest and just made a bunch of these in tiny sizes for wrapping the ornaments my kids made for Christmas. Thanks so much, they're adorable!

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  4. Good ideas! I like the way you express your idea and the topic you choose. KEep on your sharing! I appreciate it. wine bags

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  5. thank you! i'm not super crafty, but this was very easy to follow! i used an old grocery bag so i could decorate it myself. i found putting some blocks in the bottom helped to get a crisper edge.

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  6. This was a great tutorial. I am in China and it is hard for me to access a place that sells gift bags. This saved me in a pinch!

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  7. Gift bags from wrapping paper is the excellent idea.

    Custom Printed Bags

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  8. This is such an amazing tutorial! Now, one can easily make gift bags by themselves. I will surely try to make it this weekend.

    gift bags

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  9. Thanks! I used your simple to follow tutorial to make a paper lunch bag for my daughter's field trip. Seriously saved the day since I could not make it to the store to buy one. She is sure she will have the "best" one since she picked princess wrapping paper instead of brown paper. Needless to say I reinforced with lots of tape. Fingers crossed it holds.

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  10. this is too cute am headed Micheal's to my get my things after Church Hubby doing the Cooking so its Me Time

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  11. I never knew these were so easy to make. This would be great to give wine out for holidays or in. I have a lot of wrapping paper I could use too!

    Alena | https://www.bellavitabags.com/wine-bags-c-71.html

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  13. Hi love to see wrapping paper bags I have full size sheet but don't know how to make it.please guide me

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  14. This is a great tutorial, definitely will bookmark this page to comeback later. I plan to use this bags for the party I am organising with friends, the decorations for the party I bought from this site, hope it can be useful to the other reader Party Supply

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  15. Thanks for posting this. I had forgotten how to do this!

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  16. Thanks for the detailed tutorial. I will make this on my son's birthday. :)

    Marlene
    You won't believe this Immigration Lawyer Seattle

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  17. Really a very fine way to express and looking a very pleasant article with full of healthy information. I am definitely going to tell in my class about this platform and the information shared here. Very well written. Deli pot

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  18. Great idea!This DIY gift bag is so beautiful and the materials of making it are easy to collect,I can not help having a try!DIY gift bags making tutorial

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