It has been so hard to get in the Christmas spirit when we are having autumn-like weather. Temperatures have been hitting the high 50s with even an occasional 60 degree tossed in. We are starting to see trees bloom, and plants coming back to life that should be dormant this time of year.
With that being said, Christmas won’t wait until I feel like having it.
Today I will share with you a few zero-cost gift tags thought up by my 4 year old grand daughter. She was in a crafting mood, she pulled out the fabric scraps, the bag of recyclables waiting to be taken out, and craft supplies I saved from ending up in the dumpster by a neighbor.
She started with an empty box from some herbal teas cutting them along the seams (yep, still loves playing with her new scissors) then glued some fabric on them. I punched holes for in them and we used a scrap of yarn to make the ties.
I had bought 3 small chocolate candy bars for the children for Christmas, but received a surprise visit before they were put away. The wrapping was a piece of foil that I thought could be recycled (not sure with a print on the foil), but the little one decided these were perfect to craft with.
Using a bit more of the cardboard from the recyclables she glued the Santa wrapping on the printed side of the cardboard, then colored in the back with washable markers. Again I punched a hole and used yarn to tie on the packages. With the back a plain color she thought we could write the children’s name on each one. So that’s what we did.
Finally, she pulled out small plastic canvas squares that had been destined for the dumpster. She wanted to know if we could cut letters out of the canvas. Yes! I had been wanting to make or buy letters for the presents. I had a recipe for salt dough tags (you can find the recipe here) With my grand children being between 2 and 4 I thought it would be cute for them to have some presents tagged with their first initial. Thanks to my grand daughter I now have the letters I wanted….although they need a few finishing touches of my own to be ready to adorn the packages.
I recently found a new site with amazing ideas for gift wrapping, tags and decorative touches for your presents using items even I wouldn’t have thought to use. For inspiration on your last minute wrapping check out Lovely Trash.
There you have it, zero cost gift tags that used items originally destined for recycling pick up.
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Life In A Minimalist Farmhouse 
I love children and their way of just doing things without overthinking it! The santa gifttags are absolutely gorgeous.
I hope the weather won’t get more strange in the future!
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Thank you. I was glad in the end that the children found the candy because the wrapping became an adorable gift tag. I love watching the kids and the way their minds work. Currently, she wants to do anything that involves scissors and glue the two latest things she was introduced to in her crafting.
And the weather, I too hope it doesn’t get stranger. It has cooled off a little here, in the low 40s but we are expecting snow this weekend, the first real snow we are expecting so far this year.
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I cut out last year’s Christmas cards and use them as gift tags the next year. I got the idea from a friend of mine.
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That’s a great way to use up Christmas cards. I noticed you mentioned you wouldn’t be writing any thing more until after the holidays, so wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
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Thankyou – and Merry Christmas to you, too. I say that, but chances are pretty good you might see a pic of the Christmas tree once I finally get it up.
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Thank you, I look forward to seeing if you really do get your tree up, guess the rest of the family vetoed your plan to avoid the tree this year 🙂
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Yes, they did – though truthfully, I want one too.
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How did you punch the hole through the fabric?
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Super cute . . . and thrifty! (I especially love the Santa candy wrapper tag!) 🙂
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Me too leave it to a 4 year old to teach me something new, I don’t think I would have ever thought of using the candy wrappers for tags
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Looks like you had a great time making together.
Thanks for the recipe link for the salt dough I’ve filed it away for future projects.
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You are more than welcome, I too filed it away for future projects since I didn’t get to use it for the gift tag letters I was planning to do, that’s okay though because I had a great time making these.
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I remember spending hours and hours doing this sort of thing when I was small – it’s the sort of experience that never leaves you and you treasure for always. Sending you a virtual sprinkling of Christmas magic to get you in the mood. x
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Thank you Anny, what great memories of having fun you have, I hope my grand daughter remembers these times when she’s older. Thank you for the Christmas magic, it may have helped as snow is on it’s way we are being told, according to the forecast we will have a white Christmas!
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