How to Make Your Own Christmas Gift Tags

You've purchased the gifts and the gift wrap but you can't find the gift tags. What do you do now? Finding the extra funds for gift giving in our already tight budgets will be hard enough this year without spending hard earned money on gift tags also. Many of us may have Christmas Gift Tags left over from last year, may have forgotten to purchase them or may have misplaced them in the holiday shopping and wrapping rush. Use these simple techniques to create your own Christmas Gift Tags and eliminate the extra cost of those pricey and often cheap looking Christmas gift tags.

Use Last Years Christmas Cards to Create Christmas Gift Tags

Items needed:

Used or vintage Christmas Cards

Scissors

Ribbon

hole punch

Glitter and Glue sticks or Glitter glue (optional)

mini cookie cutter or Christmas shapes template (optional)

pencil

Saving last years Christmas cards may have been a better idea than you had first thought. Take a look at those cards and consider how many of them could be cut into cute shapes with the decoration already on them. Use mini cookie cutters as templates, or cut out freehand, to create Christmas character shapes such as snowmen, snow flakes, stars, etc. If there are several trees on the front of a card consider cutting out each individual tree. Use the fronts of the cards only and punch with a hole punch near the top for hanging. Further embellish your Christmas Gift tag with glitter pens or markers if you wish. Use ribbon to attach your handmade Christmas Gift tag to your packages after writing the recipients name on the back. These creative Christmas Gift Tags can be made as a family activity or as a children's activity to keep youngsters occupied on a cold and freezing no school day.

Use Extra Family Pictures To Make Christmas Gift Tags

Items needed:

school photos

family photos

heavy card stock or

heavy wrapping paper or

construction paper

glue or glue sticks

scissors

ribbon

glitter (optional)

hole punch

School portrait packages often include many small exchange size pictures of students. Use these extra photos and construction paper or heavy card stock or wrapping paper to create unique Christmas gift tags. You could also print out your own photos off your home computer, a wallet size or smaller photo works great for this project. Cut a piece of heavy gift wrap or card stock slightly larger than and twice as wide as the photo you intend to use. Score the paper or card stock down the middle and fold in half. Use a glue stick to glue the photo onto the front of the gift tag and write To: and From: on the inside of the tag using a decorative color pen or marker. Attach this unique Christmas gift tag to your packages by using a hole punch to make a hole through the upper left hand corner of the tag and tying it onto the package with ribbon or use tape or glue to secure the tag to the package. Consider the recipients when creating these Christmas Gift Tags and don't discount using past photos or your children or pets. Glitter glue placed around the photo to "frame" it is also a nice finishing touch.

Start a new family tradition by inviting family or friends over for a Christmas Tag Craft Night. Even the non crafty family members will enjoy creating these fun and creative Christmas Gift Tags. With plenty of crafting supplies (think children's art, photos, heavy gift wrap, card stock, glue, glitter, pens, markers, scissors, ribbon, yarn, cookie cutters) and a little ingenuity you'll be creating off of each others inspiration in no time. Consider making a few sample Christmas Gift tags in advance to get the creative ideas flowing. Have everyone make extra tags for exchanging with each other before the night is over.

Enjoy your new miniature gifts of art, handmade Christmas gift tags, and have a thrifty holiday.