10 Wrapping Paper Crafts to Use Up that Gift Wrap

Now that the presents are all open and the stockings are empty, are you staring at a heap of gift wrap and feeling a little guilty? Reuse all of that pretty paper with some wrapping paper crafts!

I know. You did your best. You wrapped your gifts in reusable gift wrap, because you wanted a waste free holiday. Me too!

But despite your best efforts, did you maybe get a bunch of gifts for you or for your kids that were wrapped in conventional paper? Me too!

Don’t be sad. Let’s do some wrapping paper crafts with all of that free paper!

My favorite way to reuse wrapping paper is in origami projects. Gift wrap folds like a dream. The only caution I’d give you with wrapping paper origami is that you want to be really certain about your fold before you press hard. Most wrapping paper will show fold marks when you unfold. You can still do guiding folds and whatnot. But those crisp, permanent folds don’t smooth out nicely if you have to redo them. Just take your time, is what I’m saying.

Of course, origami isn’t the only way that you can reuse gift wraps. Wrapping paper crafts are as myriad as paper crafts in general. Anywhere that you can use thin, pretty paper, you can use gift wrap.

Ironing Gift Wrap for Wrapping Paper Crafts

If you want your reused gift wrap to look really professional, you can iron the paper before you use it. Like I mentioned above, any hard folks might have white marks where the design rubbed off, but you can get out general wrinkles with an iron. Here’s how:

1. Iron two pieces of light fabric, like quilting-weight cotton.

2. Place your wrapping paper between the pieces.

3. Set your iron on the lowest setting, and press away!

10 Wrapping Paper Crafts

1. Origami Star Banner – Puffy origami stars all strung up are a pretty way to display that wrapping paper all year long. Maria shows you how to make a mini star banner of your own.

2. Wrapping Paper Hat – Julie shows you how to turn any big piece of paper into a classic newspaper-style hat.

3. Treat Holders – You can use tissue paper from gift bags or reused wrapping paper to make these cute treat holders. Scott made these for Halloween treats, but you can totally make them into holders for any holiday. Valentine’s Day, anyone?

4. Origami Box – I used calendar pages to make my origami box, but wrapping paper would work well, too. If it feels too flimsy, you can double up on your paper to make it a bit sturdier.

5. Gift Bows – Turn this year’s wrapping paper into next year’s embellishments! You can make these DIY gift bows from virtually any scrap paper.

6. Curly Wrapping Paper Bow – Two Yellow Birds Decor shares a different take on the classic wrapping paper bow. So cute!

7. Homemade Washi Tape – Washi tape is super easy to come by now, but it’s still fun to make your own custom rolls! Wrapping paper would work perfectly with my DIY washi tape tute.

8. Make Napkin Rings – I used washi tape to make the napkin rings above, so you’ve got two options for using wrapping paper instead. You can use the washi tape tute to turn your wrapping paper into washi tape, or you can just Mod Podge the strips of gift wrap directly onto your paper tubes.

photo by Bernie Jersey

9. Paper Beads – Wrapping paper is the perfect substitute for magazine or catalog pages for making pretty paper beads.

10. Make a Desktop Mobile – I used to sell my paper crane desktop mobiles, and when I stopped, I shared this fun paper craft on my personal blog. Just use squares of used wrapping paper in place of the origami paper.