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No matter what holiday you might celebrate this winter season, odds are that gift wrapping paper will be part of it. The printed paper is so beautiful, it’s almost a shame that it only gets one use before being wadded up and thrown away… or does it have to? We’ve got 7 great ways for holiday wrapping paper to get reused and find a whole new lease on life.
1 – Colorful Collage Art With Bits and Scraps
Don’t worry about making sure paper is carefully saved… this arts and crafts project is made from small torn pieces! Simply adhere your pieces onto a foam core backing with glue you can apply with a brush or rubber cement. You can mount and hang your best pieces with a simple frame! (Extra points if you upcycle a used picture frame, too!)
For plainer wrapping paper, you can add more pizzaz with a gold leaf kit – but odds are that you’ll have no trouble making some beautiful artwork without anything more than the paper.
2- Stained Glass Flowers from Tissue Paper
Store your tissue paper for spring! Black construction paper serves as the outline for these lovely flowers, which look wonderful hanging on windows.
3 – DIY Gift Bows
If you love beautiful bows but hate how much they cost, this will be a great project for older kids (and parents too). It uses less paper than you might think, so you’ll be sure to find enough unrumpled paper to salvage for these projects. (It’s also a great way to use up small bits of extra paper left over from wrapping – for matching bows!)
4 – Recycled Holiday and Birthday Thank-Yous
A great way to make sure your little one remembers to send a thank you note for presents! Have your child glue a piece of wrapping paper onto a piece of card stock, and decorate to look like a gift, for a lovely handmade thank you note grandma and grandpa will be sure to enjoy.
5 – Garlands and Streamers
Shapes of beautiful colourful paper hanging on string is a project anybody can do… and a great way for kids to decorate for New Years Eve, too! Glue the shapes to cardboard or foam core to make them extra sturdy.
6 – Make Origami
We wouldn’t be Teachers on Call if we didn’t suggest at least ONE bonus educational activity. This origami project creates many-sided balls using many folded pieces of paper that can be fitted together (they’re called Sonobe units). It’s great fun, very simple, and your child may never know that they’re having a blast with geometry until they ask what a 12-sided unit is called.
7 – Use it to store precious things
Even the most wadded-up paper can be used as packing material to store precious ornaments or other delicate mementos, and it’s a great way to remember years gone by.
We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season! Stay safe and have a happy new year.
