What a paper gift bag is for
A paper bag holds a present from Santa, a small favor for each guest at the Christmas table, a handful of cookies or a gift card. The large one takes a little book, gloves or a small jar; the small one sweets, a key ring or a voucher. Instead of a plastic bag it is one you made yourself – and it goes in the paper recycling after the holidays.
How to make the gift bag
- Print the pages at 100% scale on 120–200 gsm paper – thin paper bends and the bottom will not keep its shape.
- Cut the bag out along the solid line, the bottom flaps and the grey tab included. Between the flaps, cut exactly up to the fold line.
- Crease every line along a ruler: the dashed ones (fold up) with the print outside, the dash-and-dot ones down the middle of the sides inwards.
- Fold the gold band with the circles into the bag and glue it to the wall – the top edge gets stiffer. You can also just fold it.
- Put glue on the grey tab and stick it inside, under the free edge of the front – the bag becomes a tube with four walls.
- Turn the bag upside down. Fold in the side flaps first, then the front flap, and last glue the back flap onto the grey field of the front flap.
- Put a hand inside and press the bottom against the table until the glue holds and its edges are sharp.
- Punch the four circles through both layers of the band with a hole punch or a pencil. Thread about 30 cm of ribbon through the two front holes and knot both ends inside – the same at the back.
- Optional: the dash-and-dot lines on the sides are only for folding flat – before the bottom is glued, push the sides in along them and the tube lies flat, to mail it in an envelope.
For a heavier gift, cut a piece of card the size of the bottom (5.5 × 3 cm or 4 × 2 cm) and lay it inside on the bottom – the bag will not come unglued. Tissue paper on top hides what is inside.
Also useful
Drawing names for gifts too? Secret Santa on santa.haus.