The holidays are upon us and there always seems to be more that needs to be done. More people to see and more things to buy. It can start to feel overwhelming! What if you did a little less? What if you bought less and generated less waste? In this innovative tutorial, we will help you transform materials you already have into gorgeous (and environmentally friendly) wrapped gifts. These gingerbread house inspired gifts are almost too pretty to open!
What you'll need:
- Recycled paper (packaging paper or brown paper bags)
- Cardboard boxes
- White paint pen
- Scissors
- Tape
- Playsilks
- Optional: Dried oranges, cinnamon sticks, pine trimmings etc
- Paper snowflakes (instructions below)
Begin by wrapping your gifts in recycled wrapping paper. You can use brown paper bags, packing paper, cardboard boxes etc.
Once all gifts are wrapped, you can start decorating each package with a white paint pen as if you were decorating a gingerbread house! You can add as many details as you please.
To add a little more pizzazz, you can add dried oranges, cinnamon sticks or any other found items to the top of each gift. Rose hips are a favorite of ours.
You may also choose to wrap some of your gifts in play silks. Colorful ribbons and bows can give your gifts a whimsical feel.
Just like that you've made recycled materials look better than new! Your gingerbread house wrapped gifts offer a great opportunity to chat with your children about sustainability and important it is to care for the planet. They can even brainstorm with you about what the paper can be used for next! If you want to add just a little more flair to each gift, continue along to find out how to make kite paper snowflakes for decoration.
What you'll need for the decorative snowflakes:
- 2 sheets of white kite paper per snowflake
- School glue
- Scissors
Fold a sheet of kite paper in half and then half again to reveal 4 small squares.
Use scissors to cut the sheet into four squares
Repeat until you have a total of 8 small kite paper squares
Fold each small square in half along the diagonal
Open up the fold
Fold the outer two corners inward to meet the center fold
Connect the eight individual pieces using a bit of school glue in a circle to reveal a dashing kite paper snowflake.
Add your snowflakes on top of your presents as decoration or hand them in a well-lit window for some extra sparkle.
A special thank you to our guest contributor and friend, Franzi Shelton for creating this wonderful tutorial. Franzi holds a Masters of Education from UC Santa Barbara and is a secondary science teacher. She is also a mother of two wonderful children who creates the more inspiring Waldorf crafts, recipes and more on Instagram.
Leave a comment