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How to Make Gift Bags with Decorative Paper

Make your own gift bags using decorative paper, like sheet music or old maps! These DIY gift bags are great for birthday, Christmas, or any holiday gifts.
Keyword diy craft, gift bag
Active Time 15 minutes
Author Angie Holden

What You Will Need

  • Maps sheet music, or other paper ephemera
  • Ruler
  • Clear tape
  • Hole punch
  • Ribbon

Instructions

  • Decide which side of the paper is your front and which end is the top. Fold your paper so that the ends meet in the middle of the "back". Your top should be up and your front is facing out not in. Make sure it is even where it meets. Please note that all of your folds need to be neat and crisp. Use your ruler or fingernail to run down all the creases as you do them. Run a long strip of tape all the way down the center seam.
  • All of the dimensions are for this particular bag, you can play with all of this later for different sizes of paper. I did and you can do all sorts of things! Fold up the bottom of your bag 1 1/2 inches. Again you need to make sure you have a nice crisp, even fold.
  • Open up that fold and make a triangle in the corner.
  • The crease in that triangle should line up just perfectly with the crease in your paper. Repeat by adding another triangle on the opposite side.
  • Now take both sides and fold them to the center making them meet at the crease. Nice and neat folds perfectly meeting in the center.
  • Run a strip of tape all the way across where those pieces meet and pop open your bag!
  • Crease all of your bag edges with nice neat folds so it looks professional.