Search This Blog

Thursday, 20 November 2025

Turn your old paper bags, boxes & Christmas cards into gift bags & tags. And it's a therapeutic activity!

 This is the ultimate in recycling! 


All you need are the following items - 

Old Christmas cards - just the picture sides.

Christmas wrapping paper

Paper/card carrier bags in all sizes - with minimal writing on. Start collecting them throughout the year

Cardboard boxes - with minimal writing on - start collecting them throughout the year - if you can.

Scissors - old pinking shears are good here

Punch hole

Glue -  suitable for paper

Coloured twine - they come in multiple colours. Ebay is a good source.


To turn your old paper bags into gift bags - look at the amount of "brand" writing on the bag - you are going to need to cover it up with either Christmas wrapping paper or an old Christmas card - depending on the size of writing you need to cover. You may need to cover writing on both sides of the bag. 

Cut the wrapping paper to size - enough to cover any writing and simply glue it onto the bag. Repeat on the other side if necessary. Alternatively, if you have a Christmas card - large enough to cover the writing - use that if you want to. Pinking shears are good here as you can cut round the card giving it a festive edge around the sides.

With boxes - do the same as per the bags - just covering up any writing.

To make gift tags - simply cut around Christmas cards - picture side only, and use a punch hole to make a hole in a corner of the tag. Use coloured twine to make a loop and pull through the hole, and tie it into a knot at the top. Depending on the picture - you can cut them into all sorts of shapes and sizes.


The activity is very therapeutic and a great way to spend an evening instead of watching the rubbish on TV.




No comments:

Post a Comment

AddThis Smart Layers