Easy Kid Craft: DIY Christmas Gift Wrap

I have always loved wrapping presents.

One day, I will tell you about the meltdown I had when I realized I couldn’t wrap gifts as well as my mom could. I was three-years-old…yes, three…and the meltdown was so epic, I remember it today…ha.

My kids love to wrap gifts for people, too (although they are usually only good for three or four before their attention wanes). This year, I thought it would be fun to make our own wrapping paper for the grandparents. This DIY Christmas gift wrap is inexpensive, won’t take long to make, and the kids will love you for it – what kid doesn’t love a good, messy paint project, right?

Here’s what you need to make your own DIY Christmas Gift Wrap:

• Kraft paper (you can buy this pretty much anywhere…and it was less than $5 for a giant roll that I will probably still be using when the kids go to college)
• Paint (green and the color of your choice for the ornaments…we chose red and gold)
• Circular paint sponge (you can get these inexpensively at any craft store)
• Paper towels for an easy clean up!

Start by rolling out the paper, curly side down so it will stay mostly flat. We used two green paints, and alternated on each row. Paint your child’s hand and have them keep their fingers tightly together and stamp their palm onto the paper.

Your “trees” will look more tree-like if they can be sure to smoosh their palm down on the paper.

By the time you’re done with your trees (we didn’t make a ton of gift wrap…just enough for a couple of gifts), the first ones will have dried enough to start painting the ornaments.

Use one of your circular sponges to dab in the paint, wiping the excess off. Let your child dot the trees with the ornaments.

I had to let my secret inner control freak go on this one…she wanted to control ALL THE DOTS, but I realized that was completely beside the point and managed to let Claire make all the dot-placement decisions. And we all survived.

Let the paper dry completely, then cut and wrap!

This is kind of messy, because KIDS and PAINT.

The grandparents will officially be getting the cutest-wrapped gifts of the year, and the kids LOVE that they had a part in this. I think this project turned out adorable, and we’ll likely make more.

Also? No one cried while wrapping these gifts – including me. 😉

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