Gift bags DIY

I've been extremely busy getting ready for R's birthday party. The goal has been to keep it as inexpensive as possible while still having a very nice party with pretty invitations, good activities, nice goodie bags and food of course. I think with my two kids it will be a total of 9 kids. Any guesses on how much this is going to cost? I'm including every cost, including stamps etc, but not of things I already had at home. So it's not a fair guessing game, I know.

So I decided to make the goodie bags myself, since I have all this beautiful scrapbook paper going to waste (I've gone digital in that department.) I looked on the internet for easy instructions on making your own paper gift bags, but had a hard time finding anything really helpful. There was one that came close, but I still adapted it, and so I decided to post it here for any of my friends that might want to know! :)



Take a 12x12 paper and fold it in half with a small edge showing. Then fold that edge over and tape it down (or glue it if you want it to be prettier!)



Fold the bottom of the bag up a couple of inches.



Open the bottom and push the edges down (see photo).



It will then look like this.



Fold the bottom up, slightly further than the middle line.



Then fold the top down, also slightly further than the middle line. Be careful here to fold it the same amount as the bottom, so the new points you have created match up.



Then fold the sides of the bag in, making sure you only fold it so far that the diagonal line you are creating matches up with the line you already have there. This is a step you need to be precise, too.



Unfold your bags, push the sides in, cut the top off to reach the desired bag size and voila, your own handmade giftbags. Punch some holes, add some ribbon, etc. I even thought you could fold the tops over, punch holes and thread the ribbon through and tie it in a bow.

I'm quite happy with how they turned out.