Whether it’s the Christmas holidays you are celebrating or any other occasion, recycling magazines or even the comic pages from your local paper makes good, green sense. And it’s a great way to get the kids busy when they complain there’s nothing to do.The kids can even personalize the wrapping paper and bags by using pages that illustrate the gift recipient's favourite hobby or sport.
Be sure that an adult or older child is present to help the little ones with the glue and scissors.
To make these projects even more environmentally sound, shred the paper that's left over and use it to protect any gifts you are sending by post instead of Styrofoam peanuts.
Materials You Will Need for all Three Projects
- Magazines
- Cardboard food package or tissue boxes
- Scissors, white paper glue, ruler, transparent tape
- String, knitting yarn, leftover ribbon
NOTE: Keep a couple of the cardboard boxes intact, as these will serve as templates for the bags.
Instructions to Make Gift Wrap Paper
- Perfect for small gifts or if you’ve run out of holiday wrapping paper: Join two (or more) magazine pages together with invisible transparent tape and use to wrap small gifts.
Instructions to Make Gift Bags
- Using transparent tape, join two pages together edge to edge. Whether you join them lengthwise or widthwise depends on the page picture or the size of the gift.
- Wrap the joined pages over a cereal box just as you would if you were wrapping a gift and tape down the open lengthwise side
- Then fold the bottom of the bag as you would the gift wrap and tape or glue down.
- Pull out the cereal box.
- Cut out two cardboard rectangles 1" (2.54cm) by width of bag. Glue a rectangle at the top of each wide side of bag. Fold top of bag 1" to inside all around.
- For the handles, punch two holes about 1” (2.54cm) down on each side at top of the bag.
- Thread ribbon, string, or yarn through holes on each side.
- Make a large knot at each end of the ribbon, string or yarn (large enough so that the ends do not come through the holes) and trim off any excess.
Instructions to Make the Gift Tags
NOTE: Cover any printing on the cardboard by gluing the tags on top, leaving the blank side for labeling and messages.
- Cut out small pictures, drawings, and graphics from magazines.
- Glue these on top of the printed side of the cardboard from food package or tissue boxes.
- When dry, cut each picture out carefully. Punch a hole at left hand top corner of the card and tie ribbon or string through the hole.
Besides using magazines, junk mail, old calenders to make gift tags and bags, you can also create awsome cards and envelopes.
