Tiny Holidays: Cheapy Cheap Gift Wrapping

Howdy! We have just returned from the Arctic Tundra known as central Maine. We celebrated Christmas a little early with Mike's extended family in their beautiful home (hi Keefs!!) and then stayed the night in the gorgeous lake house of his second-cousin (hi Martha and Ron!). Anyway, we did quite a bit of gift giving and we thought we would share some of our favorite cost-effective gift wrapping ideas that deliver a big WOW for a little dough.

Add lots of texture for a big impact! Here we used some raffia, a little leftover 1-inch wide ribbon and a strip of kraft paper to create visual and textural impact. And guess what? Our gift was picked first for the Yankee swap! So there! Guess what we gave?

A cute coffee mug, a pound of java and some homemade snickerdoodles! Definitely a crowd pleaser, and less than $10! We found the mug at Marshall's for $3.99!

The family tradition at this particular party is to bring a little stocking stuffer for all of the kids. This is a tall order for a couple on a budget, so we tried to come up with bargain gifts that the kids would still love. For the little guys, we gave them a set of crayons and markers wrapped up in a plastic treat bag from the baking aisle at A.C. Moore. We jazzed it up with a bit of raffia and a homemade gift tag!



The 7-year old girl cousins got some sweet little nail polishes and a girly Hello Kitty notebook, both from the dollar section at Target. They older boy cousins got a puzzle and an art project. For gifts for 6 kiddos, we spent under $10!

Speaking of  homemade gift tags...

Did you check out Mike's post about making custom gift wrap?? Cheapy cheap and SO cute!

We made these geometric gift tags with leftover cardboard cut into a 2"x2" square topped with a colorful circle made with our 1" circle punch. Easy and fun!

Here are some fun gift wrapping ideas that we've seen round the Interwebs:

Sweet and unexpected wrapping ideas from Real Simple. Love this peacock feather!

Sweet wine labels from Better Homes and Gardens. If you follow the link, there is a how-to! This could really jazz up a bottle of wine for gift giving!

Super cute and FREE downloadable gift tags from Design*Sponge! These would look so cute with plain, brown kraft paper. Make sure you check out Julia Rothman, the artist's, website!

Let us know your favorite inexpensive ways to jazz up a Christmas gift in the comments!!!!