Gift-giving can happen at any time. You can give people all kinds of odd-shaped gifts. Birthdays, sick days, life milestones, welcome packs.
Learning to make your own beautiful wrapping paper is a powerful skill.
A DIY gift bag adds a special touch to your efforts. You don’t just gift-wrap a box with colorful paper. You took the time to create a personalized version.
In this article, you’ll learn more about making impressive gift bags, plus, in the end, you’ll get an alternative that’s both effortless and cost-efficient.
These techniques work for personal gifting. They also boost brand unboxing and encourage repeat retail purchases.
Step-by-Step: How to Create a DIY Gift Bag Using a Box
Creating DIY gift bags isn’t too complicated. One helpful technique is to use a gift box or any type of box.
First, you have to check that your gift inside the present fits the box. This will ensure that it’ll fit the gift bag that you’ll create.
To create your gift bag, choose wrapping paper. It could be actual gift wrapping paper or any paper that you have at home, like old newspapers, magazines, etc.
Make sure the wrapping paper can cover the whole box. If your existing paper is too small for the box, tape a couple of smaller pieces of paper neatly together.
Once the wrapping paper is taped together and big enough, fold the top edge of the paper so it’s thicker. This is where you’ll attach the handle of the gift bag later on.
For the next step, use the typical gift-wrapping ideas that you have. Put the wrapping paper around the width of the box. Press your fingers along the edges so the form of the paper is more defined.
Tape the paper together, making sure there’s no tape attaching the box to the paper. Have a part of the paper extend past the box so you can fold it over the side. Secure it with tape as well. This will serve as the bottom of your gift bag.
Don’t wrap the paper in the box too tightly. That way, you can easily slide the bag off after you’ve folded it.
After removing the box, attach the handles to the bag. You can use ribbons, twisted paper, or a rope. Secure it in the gift bag so it won’t fall off.
If you don’t have a box, use a large book or something similar.
9 Materials to Use for Your DIY Gift Bags
The key to an impressive DIY gift bag is the wrapping paper. The paper you’ll use will determine if you have a beautiful gift bag or not.
So if you want a simple gift bag, you should use plain paper. If the bag is for Valentine’s Day, use red paper. If you want a festive-looking bag, look for wrapping paper with the right design on it.
To understand your wrapping paper options, here are the common ones you can use.
1. Use Gift Wrapping Paper
The simplest way to create a gift bag is to use actual gift wrapping paper. There are many designs to choose from in a bookstore. You have wrapping paper for birthday celebrations.
And, of course, you have wrapping paper for the Christmas season. There’s even wrapping paper for gender reveals or weddings.
If you don’t want to complicate your DIY gift bags, just buy printed wrapping paper. Instead of using the gift wrap paper on a box, you can create a bag out of it.
2. Use Kraft Paper
If you prefer a simple DIY gift bag, use plain kraft paper. Choose thicker paper so your gift bags won’t look like cheap-looking brown paper bags.
If you want, you can buy thick kraft paper. Use these to make your gift bags. These come in natural, white, or brown colors. You get different neutral shades for your wrapping paper.
The thickness of the paper will allow your gift bag to carry heavier presents. When carrying heavy items, you need a method to reinforce the bottom of the bag, such as adding a cardboard insert.
3. Use Newspapers
This is an eco-friendly way to create your paper gift bag wholesale. Use old newspapers. Instead of throwing them away, you can repurpose them to create gift bags.
What’s great about this wrapping paper is that it’s quite thick. Sure, the ink on the newspaper might smudge, but that’s the novelty of this idea.
You can even choose the page to use so it suits the recipient. If the gift is for someone who’s into sports, use the sports section as the wrapping paper. It should be fun for the recipient to look at the news before opening the gift.
Once your newspaper bag takes shape, adding handles is the perfect finishing touch. Since newspapers can be fragile when pulled, folding the top rim inward creates a thicker, double-sided layer for extra strength.
Take a standard hole punch and press it through this reinforced top edge. Creating clean, even circles ensures the paper won’t rip when carrying heavier items inside.
Finally, thread a bright ribbon or twine through the openings and tie it off. This simple step turns an ordinary recycled page into a stylish, functional gift package.
4. Use Scratch Papers
This is another eco-friendly option. Use scratch paper to create your gift bags. Save any paper that you used for informal writing, or if you printed the wrong thing on paper.
If your kids did some artwork and made mistakes, let them keep the paper.
Put them aside and use them as wrapping paper when you need to. These will make interesting designs for your paper bags.
Just make sure the information on the paper isn’t confidential before you use it to create your DIY gift bag.
5. Use Old Schoolbooks
If you have old schoolbooks you no longer use and can’t give away, these can also be converted into wrapping paper. These books are usually the ones with torn pages that won’t be of use to anyone.
Don’t throw these away. Just recycle them.
Since these are quite small, you might have to tape them together first using double-sided tape. Do this neatly so it won’t come apart.
This is a great way to make a sustainable gift bag.
6. Use Outdated Magazines
Another idea for wrapping paper is outdated magazines. Choose the colorful fashion magazines that you’re not interested in reading anymore.
Tape the pages together with double-sided tape to form a paper gift bag. If you have outdated women’s magazines, use them if the recipient is a woman. If the recipient is a man, choose pages in the magazine with men in them.
If you can find one, choose an image that previews what the recipient will get from you as a gift.
7. Use Felt Paper
Another idea for your paper gift bag is to use felt paper. This will give your gift bags a nice texture. The velvet surface is nice to the touch.
If this wrapping paper isn’t big enough, tape it together with another one. You can use two different colors, one for each side of the bag. That should make the bag look creative.
8. Use Available Fabrics
This isn’t paper. However, using available fabric around your house is still a good option if you want to create your gift bag.
Among the fabrics that you can use are old pillowcases, shirts, etc.
This may be harder to do because you’ll have to sew them together. But you can look for fabric gift bag tutorials that you can use online for guidance.
If you can create these fabric gift bags, they’ll be more durable than paper bags. Not only that, but the recipient may be able to reuse the fabric gift bag.
It’s an eco-friendly way to give gifts.
9. Use Burlap
Using burlap will be just like having fabric gift bags. You may have to sew them together to make them look more sturdy.
Find tutorials you can follow online. These gift bags look sustainable and can be reused as well.
You can add design elements to the burlap, like a gift tag made of kraft paper. Or you can add dried twigs and use twine to close the bag.
14 Trendy Ways to Decorate Gift Bags
Once you’ve chosen the main material for your DIY gift bag, it’s time to decorate it. If you’ve chosen printed wrapping paper to create your gift bags, it’s okay to leave it as is. You can just add a gift tag, and it should be ready to go.
But if you’ve chosen a plain paper gift bag, it would look better if you added something to decorate it.
Here are some trendy ways that you can add design to your gift bag.
Level 1: Simple DIY accents for an easy start.
1. With Stickers
You can put a lot of stickers on your gift bag to decorate it. Instead of using printed wrapping paper, just buy stickers that you know the recipient will love.
Use your branding stickers with cartoon designs, message bubbles, flowers, and animals—maybe even stickers that relate to the career of the recipient. Add it to your DIY paper gift bags to personalize them.
2. With Stamps
If you don’t want to use stickers, you can use stamps instead. The great thing about this is that you only have to buy a couple of stamps, and you can use them repeatedly every time you need to decorate a gift bag.
Of course, you’ll have to choose generic designs so the stamps can be used on different gift bags, regardless of the occasion being celebrated. These include stamps with common shapes or “Given with love” or “Thinking of you” messages.
3. With Text Cutouts
Now, this might not be like professional-looking gift bags, but you can be certain that it’ll be unique and sustainable, too.
The idea is to get old magazines and cut out words and phrases that will form your message for the recipient. This is a creative way to put a personal message on your DIY paper gift bags.
You can even add cutout images if you want to.
4. With Dried Twigs and Leaves
This idea would look great on kraft paper gift bags. Get pieces of dried twigs or leaves and glue them on the surface of the gift bag. It’s very cost-efficient because you just have to pick them up from your garden floor.
It would give off an eco-friendly vibe when the recipient gets the gift. You can even add some dried flowers, too.
5. With Ribbons
You can use ribbons as handles for your gift bag, or you can use them to decorate the whole bag. Glue strips of ribbon together and create a pattern on the surface of the gift bags.
Use different types of ribbon to add variety to the design. You can even use the ribbon to spell out your message for the recipient. Feel free to form shapes like a heart or a Christmas tree, depending on what the gift is for.
Level 2: Semi-custom touches to personalize your brand.
6. With Glitters
Using glitter is a great way to design your DIY gift bags. There’s nothing like a sparkly bag to make the gift look festive.
You need to be careful with how you use this. Make sure it dries completely, and you don’t put on too much glitter. That way, it won’t fall off. A great technique is to wait for the bag to dry and then shake it until no more glitter falls off.
7. With Colored Pens
This would work if you have an artistic flair or awesome penmanship. You can decorate your gift bag by using different colored pens. There are gel and glitter pens that come in different colors.
Use these to write your message to the recipient. Or you can draw patterns and shapes. Make the paper bags look colorful by shading different parts with various pens.
You can combine stickers to add more character and flair to your gift bag design.
8. With Foil
Another gift bag idea is to use foil as decoration. There are foil sticker papers that you can cut out and put on the gift bags.
Cut these into different shapes and sizes, then stick them to the bag. You can even cut letters so your message to the recipient can be in foil.
This will look great if the paper you used for the gift bag is black or any darker color.
9. With Confetti
This is an alternative to foil or glitter. Cut up different kinds of paper and mix them. Glue them on the surface of gift bags to decorate.
One way to make this look good is by drawing a shape on the gift bag and then putting glue in it. Put the confetti so it ends up following the shape that was drawn.
If done well, this may look even better than when you use gift wrap.
Then, it’s advanced structural upgrades for professional results
10. With Flower Crafts
Apart from using dried flowers and leaves, you can create flowers and use them to decorate gift bags.
There are many ways to create flowers. You can use crepe, tissue, and even fabric. Look for tutorials online that can guide you in creating these flowers.
Feel free to create just one flower or several small ones for your gift bag.
11. With Fringe Paper
This is a simple paper gift bag design idea that you can use. Get any colored paper, fold it in half, and then cut the lower half into fringes. Glue this around the paper bag.
You can put it on the lower half of the gift bag to make it look like a fringe skirt. Or you can put it on top – near the handles. You can even cut different colors and put them as layers on the gift bag.
12. With Stenciled Art
This is a cool idea for a gift bag. Cut out the letters and then position them on the paper bag. Then spray paint over it. The result is a splash of color around the letters that you’ve positioned.
You can arrange the letters so they spell out a message for the recipient. Or it could be a random word like “hey,” “love,” or “Cool” – feel free to choose words that the recipient can appreciate.
13. With Paint
Using paint to decorate your paper gift bag is another idea that you can use. It would be best if you have a talent for painting. But if not, that’s okay.
You don’t need special skills to draw patterns and color blocks to decorate gift bags. Just make sure the paint is completely dry before you put anything on it. You don’t want the paint to get on the gift as you’re putting it inside the bag.
14. With Tissue Paper
Finally, a very simple homemade gift bag idea is to add tissue paper. This is something you can apply regardless of the material you’ll use to create gift bags. Whether it’s printed or plain, you can add crumpled tissue paper on top of the gift. Let it peek out of the bag.
Use a color that complements the gift bag well.
FAQs
Q: How do I make my DIY gift bag look professional?
A: Focus on clean details to avoid a messy or cheap appearance.
Press folds firmly to create sharp, crisp creases; using a ruler or bone folder helps.
Hide adhesives by using double-sided tape on the inside seams instead of regular tape on the outside.
Upgrade the handles: make neat, evenly spaced holes and use nice satin ribbons rather than simple strings.
Q: What tape is best for thick kraft paper?
A: Standard clear office tape often peels off thick wrapping paper or kraft paper.
For a strong, long-lasting hold, use heavy-duty double-sided tape or an adhesive runner.
For very thick, cardboard-like paper, craft glue or a hot glue gun works best.
To tape outside seams, use wide, decorative washi tape to secure the paper and add a stylish touch.
Q: How do I prevent the paper from tearing when folding?
A: Tearing or cracking usually happens when the paper is too thick or folded too quickly.
Use medium-weight paper (around 80–120 gsm)—thick enough to hold its shape but still easy to fold.
Always work on a clean, hard, flat surface for best results.
Need Ready-Made Gift Bags? Contact Packoi.
You can just order ready-made gift bags from a reliable packaging supplier. It’ll save you a lot of time in the process.
Packoi Printing is a packaging supplier that offers several paper gift bag designs that you can choose from. We have a design for all occasions.
Give us a call so we can talk about your gift bag needs.
If you have a unique design in mind, contact us to discuss your ideas. We’ll get back to you with a fair quote as soon as possible.
