Turn a shopping bag into a holiday gift bag

I was looking for a gift bag for some items that I bought and realized that I didn't have any holiday gift bags.  I did have two nice store shopping bags and decided to turn these shopping bags into holiday gift bags.  One bag was from White House Black Market (WHBM) and one bag was from Anthropology.  Both store bags are quite strong and made of thick paper.  These were the only two bags that I had, so I'll have to do much more shopping at both store.

To "Holidize" these bags you need:

Supplies

• Durable store bags that are large enough for your gift
• Tape (regular and double sided)
• Glue stick
• Scissors
• Wrapping paper
• Christmas tree template. I found the template here.  Copy the tree.jpg to your desk top.  Open Windows Photo Gallery and print the full page photo.  Make sure you check the 'fit picture to frame' box.  For the smaller tree, select the 5 x 7 box.

First, print and cut out the large tree template. Take the template and trace the tree on the plain side of the wrapping paper.  For the Anthropology bag, I chose red wrapping paper to coordinate with the red stitching on the bag handles.  You'll need two cut outs, one for each side of the bag.  Next, print the smaller tree template and choose a coordinating wrapping paper.  Trace and cut two small trees.

Place the cut out wrapping paper trees on the bag.

Once you know the tree placement, which should cover up the Anthropology logo, add some double stick tape to the plain side of the wrapping paper and glue stick around the edges.  Be gentle with the glue stick as wrapping paper is usually thin and can tear easily.

Tape & Glue

Once the large tree is sticky, press onto the bag.  Repeat and add the smaller tree.  Your finished bag should look like this.

Add your gift, some tissue paper, a ribbon and put your gift under the tree

For the black bag I want to cover up the White House Black Market logo on the front of the bag.  There is writing on the side of the bag, but I just left it as the text reads "Feel Beautiful" and I thought that sounded nice, so I didn't bother to cover it up.

Cut two strips of wrapping paper and fold to create a long rectangle.  There are no specific measurements, just make sure the strip covers the logo.  For a finished look, fold the edges and tape with regular tape.

Cut strips of wrapping paper, fold and tape down.

Apply double stick tape and glue stick to the back side of the wrapping strip and apply to the bag covering the WHBM logo.  Also, cut out a large tree in a coordinating wrapping paper and place in the middle of the the strip.

Tip:  It's easy to do the flat side of the bag, but on the other side where the bottom folds, it's more difficult.  Open the bag and apply your strip and tree when the bag is open.  Press the strip and tree with one hand on the outside of the bag and one hand on the inside of the bag.

Your completed bag should look like this.

Add your gift, tissue paper, a bow and place under the tree

I hope you give this a try.  It's a great way to recycle a shopping bag, saves you a bit of cash, and adds one less bag to the landfill.

Cheers,
Monica