Invoke Your Inner Craftsman: DIY Wrapping Paper

It is a truth universally unacknowledged that the best thing about getting presents is unwrapping them. The anticipation, admiring the beautiful presentation and finally the satisfying joy of ripping open the wrapping paper to discover the gift inside – these are some of our favorite things.

This year, make your own wrapping paper using easy-to-find materials (like potatoes. Yes. Potatoes). We love these three ways to decorate gifts using plain brown paper as a base (it’s classic and always timeless). Inject some craftsmanship to your gifts with our guide below. 

Materials

Brown paper

Twine

Glue

Scissors

Garden twigs, pinecone & holly

Step 1: Lay out everything you need on a clear surface where you have room to work.

Step 2: Wrap your gift neatly with the brown paper. Tip: use glue instead of tape when wrapping as it looks a lot cleaner.

Step 3: Tie the twine around our parcel like you would with a ribbon. Leave two long ends so that you are able to tie a good-sized bow with them later.

Step 4: Gently lay a short twig and some holly on top of the knot you have just tied.

Step 5: Take the two loose ends of the twine and tie a bow around the foliage to keep it in place.

Step 6: Apply a good amount of glue to the bottom of a pine cone and stick this on top of the twig and holly. Congrats, you are now a professional gift-wrapper.

Materials

Brown Paper

White A4 Paper

Glue

Scissors

Letter stickers or transfers

Step 1: Fold a sheet of A4 white paper in half and draw a semi-circle at the fold.

Step 2: With your scissors, cut around this (so that if you were to unfold it, you would have a full circle).

Step 3: Fold your semi-circle in half vertically as many times as you can until you are left with a triangle-shaped piece of folded paper.

Step 4: With your scissors, cut some shapes into this folded triangle, going through all the layers.

Step 5: When you unfold the paper, you will have a one-of-a-kind paper snowflake. Repeat these steps as many times as you need to until you have all of the snowflakes you want (or until you’re overwhelmed with nostalgia).

Step 6: Neatly wrap your gift in brown paper and then glue the snowflakes flat on top of the package. Tip: use letter transfers to label the gift with the recipient’s name. Press each one down and rub on top with a wooden stick until the lettering has transferred onto the paper. Alternatively, you can use stickers or print letters out in a festive font.

Materials

Brown Paper

Glue

Paint

Large Potato

Sharp Knife

Carving Tool

String

Step 1: Cut your potato in half so that you have a flat area of raw potato to work with.

Step 2: Carve a wintery design into the potato. You want to leave the design you carve as the raised area, so remove all of the potato flesh from around it. The easiest thing to do is a striped stocking (however, if you are a potato carving expert, feel free to attempt a snowflake).

Step 3: Lay out your piece of brown paper and choose what paint you want. For a subtle look, opt for silver paint. For something more striking, go for bright red. Dip the carved area of the potato into the paint. Before you stamp it onto the paper, gently dab off any excess paint so it doesn’t smear everywhere when you press it down.

Step 4: When the paint has dried, wrap up your present with the potato-stamped brown paper and tie with some natural string. Finally, top your gift off with a bow.

Beautiful wrapping designs so good you might not want to let them rip the paper…

Need help on figuring out what to actually wrap? Fear not. Check out our Men’s Gift Guide for 13 great ideas and our Gift Guide: For Her for some inspiration.