EZPZ Christmas Wrapping Paper

I am not a crafty-type person.  I tend to get all stuck together using Elmer’s glue and glitter makes me itchy, but if you’re like me and you’ve been driving back and forth to stores for weeks now you really don’t want to make another trip if you don’t need to.  So what do you do if you’ve found out half way through wrapping all your holiday gifts that you’ve run out of wrapping paper and you really don’t feel like leaving the comfort of your nice warm home?

Improvise.

My daughters and I are making wrapping paper again this year.  We’re going the DIY/green route; I just can’t bring myself to go and buy wrapping paper, especially when it’s going to be half off in just a couple of weeks and because I’m already doing my part to destroy the environment, but mostly because all the dyes they use in most wrapping paper kind of squicks me out.  This was a super easy afternoon craft idea and I had pretty much everything on hand.  You probably do too.

What you need:

Paper bags from the grocery store
Tempera paints (if you’ve got little ones, or if you’re like me and have a problem with coordination, I recommend washable tempera paints.)
Holiday shaped cookie cutters
Scissors
Paper plates
Patience
Directions:

-Cut down one side of paper bag and cut the bottom off.  Now you should have one piece of rectangular shaped paper.  Depending on the age of your kids, I suggest mom or dad does this or you might end up with irregularly edged wrapping paper.  If you have older kids, give them the scissors and go have a cup of coffee.  I’m sure nothing could go wrong.

-Place the bag, plain side up, on a flat surface and smooth it out as best as you can.  It’s going to be creased but hey, it’s homemade by little kids with love. This is not going to look perfect.  We taped the corners of the paper to the table to keep the paper from sliding all over the place.

-Put paint on individual paper plates.  I bought these mixing mediums in pearl, glitter and texture to mix with the paints but honestly, they’re not necessary.

“Mooom, hurry up and take the picture so we can staa-aart”.

-Take your cookie cutters, dip them in the paint color of your choosing and “stamp” them onto the paper in whatever way you want.  The messier and goopier the better.  Got to make sure everyone knows it’s homemade and not bought at Target, right?

- Repeat until you get bored, or approximately 52.8 seconds.

-Allow to dry before wrapping.

That’s it.  EZPZ, lemon squeezy.  Like I said, it’s not going to be perfect, Martha Stewart-like quality paper but it’s made with love and that’s worth a heck of a lot more than that bargain bin wrapping paper any day.  AND you didn’t have to have to leave the comfort of your house or change out of your PJs.  Tie it up with some pretty ribbon and you’ve got wrapping those closest to your kids will ooh and aah over.  They’ll probably love it more than what’s inside.  Ingrates.