For the holidays, birthdays, or other special occasions, elevate your gift wrap with a beautiful butcher paper and satin ribbon combo. In this post, I will cover tips, materials you’ll need, and more!
Disclaimer – Absolutely none of this is necessary. I do provide some functional tips, but the focus of this post is on the inspiration and aesthetic. If you have the means and desire, enjoy! A little (or a lot) extra in the best way.
Gift Wrap Materials
Gift wrap doesn’t have to be expensive or arduous, but if you’re feeling a little extra like me, here are the materials I used for these gorgeous brown paper and satin ribbon gifts.
WRAPPING PAPER – For boxes, any brown paper will work. You may already have some lying around!
- On most boxes, I used this leftover butcher paper from a Charcuterie table – Kraft Butcher Paper Roll (my sale price – $14.07)
- For larger boxes, I used a larger roll like this Kraft paper from Hobby Lobby ($5.49)
- Another alternative is this General Purpose Masking Paper from Walmart’s Home Improvement section ($4.28)
- For a more sustainable or cheaper option, you can reuse brown paper grocery bags, or the brown filler paper that comes in some shipping packages.
- Or, you can forgo the brown paper altogether and just use brown cardboard boxes for a similar look!
BROWN BAGS – Instead of buying anything new, I reused old brown gift bags and paper lunch bags I had lying around. I linked a few similar options below!
- Brown gift bags – Variety Pack from Amazon
- Brown Paper Lunch Bags – Amazon
RIBBON – These satin ribbons were perfect, and I’ve been reusing them for tons of other projects! While you can use whatever ribbon you have, I am so happy I got these new rolls. My old ribbons unfortunately did not fit the aesthetic.
- 1-1/2 inch Brown Satin Ribbon ($9.99 for 50Yd)
- 1 inch Green and Pink Variety Satin Ribbon (6 rolls, I bought for $12.99, but the listing is now for ~$14)
NAME TAG / LABELS – This year, I ditched my usual gift tags and stickers. I figured everyone would know the gift was from me since it was so extra – lol. Here are some fun ideas for inspiration!
- Stickers – I LOVED this gold sticker pack! I have leftover letters from old scrapbooking projects, but hate when I always run out of the letters I need. Luckily, this pack came with 10 sheets, so I didn’t have that problem. Also, the stickers were thin and very easy to peel and stick without ripping. ($9.99)
- Gold sharpie, paint pens, or gel pens would also be super cute if you want to write on names, designs, or sweet messages on your gifts.
- DIY ornaments with the person’s name or initial on it! I’ve seen a ton of cute acrylic, yarn, or even clay ornaments that would work great.
Aesthetic Gift Wrap Tips
Once you have what you need, time to get wrapping! Here are my top tips and ideas for functional and pretty gifts:
Embrace the Bow – The bow aesthetic is super trendy, and I am all for it. I like to wrap the ribbon around the present and tie the bow (tutorial here). If that is too difficult, an easier option is to tie the bow separately, and attach with a tape or a dot of glue after.
Trimming the ribbon – Make sure you have good scissors! Cut the ribbon at an angle for a prettier finish. You can also trim to create that popular “V” shape, but I dislike all the little scraps fraying that this technique can produce.
Prevent fraying ribbon – I skipped this step, but to prevent fraying, you can use a little clear nail polish on the ends. Another alternative is to heat the ends with a lighter or match, but it can be tricker to keep it from burning.
Mix it up – If you’re arranging your presents under the tree, it can be fun to mix it up a little. I changed how I did bows, where I put the name stickers, and how I wrapped the ribbon. This adds a more dynamic feel and adds to the aesthetic.
Save your Amazon boxes – In today’s world, we had a ton of Amazon boxes arriving daily at my parents house. Save these so that you don’t have to buy boxes!
Odd Shaped or Last Minute Gifts – The brown bags were perfect, and took me less than 5 minutes to put a gift together. I didn’t even use tissue paper, instead just stapling the tops closed and slapping on a quick bow/stickers. I used bags for bowls, a mortar and pestle, sweatshirts, and more!
You can also forego the bag altogether. I added a bow to these Nutella biscuits and a wok spatula (unpictured) for an quick yet cute way to jazz up a gift.
Double-bag – For heavy items, double bag to keep from ripping. This was especially important for the brown paper lunch bags, since I was putting heavy yet small items inside. The extra step makes a huge difference later!
Conserve your letters – My family has a LOT of “T” names. To help conserve common letters in a sticker pack, consider fun ideas like nicknames or initials. Have fun getting creative!
Embrace the “Extra”
As I hinted at in my disclaimer, this post is for those who want to be a little extra in the best way. I hope you enjoy this post with gift wrap inspiration, links, and tips.
If you like this post, you might also my other DIY related posts. Happy reading!
