Most people forget to take into account gift wrap and gift tags when shopping for their Christmas list. These extras, depending on how extravagant you like to get, can get quite costly. The gift tags you normally see are the self-adhesive gift tags that simply have a “To” and “From” message. Despite their simplicity, they can get pricey. Forget about buying any type of stylish or fancy gift tags unless you want to pay a small fortune for a set of four or eight tags. If you want to get the fancy look of gift tags without digging deep into your wallet, why not create your own homemade gift tags that will have your friends and family members wondering why they didn’t think of these ideas first?
If you go to a crafts store, one of the least expensive items you can get your hands on and, yet do so much with, are squares of felt. Buy a few Christmas-colored felt pieces like green, red and white. Using card stock, draw out small templates of simple Christmas-inspired shapes like mittens, stockings, Christmas trees and Santa boots. Glue the card stock pattern onto the appropriately colored felt piece, and cut out the piece of felt according to the pattern. You now have a colored felt Christmas symbol with card stock attached to it. On the card stock is where you will write your “To” and “From” message. Simply punch a hole at the top of the gift tag and use raffia or colorful ribbon to attach the gift tag to the actual gift.
For a glitzy effect, cut out card stock into different Christmas shapes, like mittens, stars and trees. Using crafts around the house, create brilliant borders for the shapes. You can make a fun polka dot or dashed border using glue and glitter. Perhaps you can glue some shiny sequins around the edges of the borders. Pull out your crafts and be creative when designing your borders. Leave the inside of the shape free of decorations so you can write out your gift card information.
Want to create a gift tag that can be reused as a Christmas tree ornament? At the crafts store, buy a bunch of those gold inexpensive Christmas bells. Using glue, write out the recipient’s name and then sprinkle red or green glitter over it, shaking off the excess. Be sure to let the glue dry before attaching it to any of your gifts. In fact, this gift tag would be best created at least one day before using them as gift tags, so have a chance to dry thoroughly.
If you love taking photographs or have boxes of photos of friends and family members, put these pictures to good use. Crop pictures of your family members and friends to use on the gift tags. You can simply cut out their heads from the photographs. On a piece of Christmas-themed card stock, which will serve as your gift tag (so be sure to size appropriately), write “To” and next to that, glue the picture of the recipient of the gift. Write “From” underneath that and then glue a picture of yourself next to that. What an innovative way to put a new spin on traditional gift tags!
