Homemade Wrapping Paper

Wouldn’t you like to give gifts that look as cute as these do? Depending on the size of your gift list and how crafty you are, you may or may not be able to give homemade gifts, but you can certainly add a personal touch with some homemade wrapping paper. Right? And if you involve the kids in this venture, they will feel so very proud to give gifts wrapped in the paper they made. So get started today, roll up the paper once it’s dry, and set it aside to use when needed. Just make sure to have on hand some brightly colored ribbon in colors to match for the final touch. And you can even make gift tags with leftover scraps—just too precious!

Here are the three designs we made. Large pieces of these would also look great on any wall: wrap the top around a dowel, cut a triangular point at the bottom and hang as a banner.

You’ll Need:

• Kid-friendly paint
• Butcher paper, or paper grocery store bags cut open
• A variety of things for printing: wine corks, spoons, pencil tops, sponges, corrugated foam, a meat tenderizer
• Some ingenuity, to find so many more things in your kitchen that would make great prints!

How To:

1. Pour paint into small bowls or plates
2. Dip object into paint, or apply paint to object with a paintbrush
3. Press object onto paper and lift
4. Continue experimenting, and enjoy the process of learning a little bit about printing!

We decided to start with polka-dot paper, using wine corks and pencils to make dots. Dip the cork into some paint and press onto paper. Do the same with a variety of objects, for dots of all sizes. My kids also used the corks to smear the paint around to make larger circles, which was a great idea!

We also used corrugated foam (the kind used to protect precious fruits—like etrogs for Sukkot), a spoon, and even a meat tenderizing mallet, to get some interesting prints.

And, if you’re really adventurous, a continuation of this project would be to get some fabric paint and do the same process on an old sheet, or even on some pillowcases! Heat set the paint according to the manufacturer’s instructions, and you may just end up with some great gifts to wrap up as well!