Make your gifts stand out by crafting one-of-a-kind wrapping paper and gift bags—so easy even kids can get in on the fun.

What you'll need:

How to make it:

First, start a box or bag that you add things to after each holiday - cards, pieces of wrapping paper, ribbons, and bows can all go in for future use.

Plain paper shopping bags can be given new life with a coat of paint, stickers, or sponge printed designs. To do sponge printing, buy some inexpensive sponges, cut basic shapes out of them, dip into paint, then stamp them. Small shopping bags with handles make great gift bags.

You can also get a very nice effect (but not a project for young kids) by using gold and silver spray paint and cutting some simple shapes out of paper to use as negative stencils. Lay the shapes in a random pattern on the box or bag, then spray lightly around them.

Plain boxes can be turned into gift boxes with the ideas above.

Finger paintings often make great gift wrap for small presents - save your favorites, and use the rest as wrapping paper.

The fronts of old cards (or pretty wrapping paper designs) can be reused in a variety of ways:

1. Cut them into a shape (or leave them rectangular) and glue some lace around the outer edge, then glue to a plain gift bag, plain box, or plain paper bag.
2. Cut out a small design, center glue to the center of a paper doily, then to the bag or box.
3. Gift wrap designs can be cut out and glued to index cards to make gift tags.
4. A card front can also be re-used as a postcard style card - just write your message on the blank back.

If you sew, you can make quick gift bags with leftover fabric:

1. Make a rectangle that's twice as wide (plus 2") as you want, and as high as you want (plus 4"). Be generous with the sizing, remember to measure the depth of the object you're wrapping, not just the width and height - and if the bag is extra big, it still will be fine. You can piece together several scraps of fabric to make the bag the right size.
2. Fold it right sides in, and stitch the bottom and up the one side with the raw edges.
3. Turn the top edge down 1" (towards the wrong side of the fabric) and stitch it almost all the way around, leaving about 1" open.
4. Tie a drawstring or ribbon to a large safety pin, and feed it through the top casing. Tie the ends of the drawstring together, and turn the bag right-side out.
5. Now the bag can serve double duty as a toy bag, or be reused to give another gift later.

Tips:

Check out the following gift ideas:

Gifts for Kids

Gifts for Mom, Aunt and Grandma

Gifts to Make for Dad and Granddad

Gifts, Gifts, and More Gifts