If you're looking for a cheap and easy festive project then making Christmas paper bag Christmas decorations is a total must. They take no time at all to craft and you can make them as unique to your home as you'd like. With a slight Christmas Scandi influence too, they will suit an interior that is less cluttered so they can shine.
All you need for this clever project is a selection of paper bags, you can use sandwich-style kraft bags, basic white paper carrier bags that you'd use for parties, or patterned designs like the selection I found in Ikea for gifts. You could, of course, buy plain ones and paint them to make them more personal — the world really is your oyster with this craft project and they will look awesome next to any shop-bought Christmas decs too!
You will need:
1. Selection of paper bags, I used Ikea's Christmas Vinterfint paper bags but Amazon has cute kraft paper bags that you can use too.
2. Some kind of glue: we used a glue gun and sticks for more secure results.
3 Fishing wire to hang the decs with, though you could use string or ribbon
4. Scissors: normal and some with wavy edges, or pinking shears
5. A hole punch
1. Glue your bags together
Start by adding glue to your first bag, then add the next one the same way up. Repeat this until you have about four on top of each other.
2. Snip the corners off the bags
Once you have four or so glued together cut the corners. It's easier to do this now as when the bags get too thick it's nearly impossible to do. Then add more bags.
The way to know you have enough is to gently pull back the corners so the bags open up. I used at least 10 for each one.
3. Make some cuts
For the white bag design I added some extra cuts to one side of the bags, again as above, do this when you have a smaller selection of bags glued, then do the rest. So every four bags I made the cuts. This gives you a snowflake kind of design when opened out which works nicely with the white bags.
4. Add some sparkle
For the kraft bags I decided to add a little sparkle. I found some silver stars and glued two on each section. For similar try these from Amazon. Sequins would work well too.
5. Use your hole punch
When you're happy with all of your Christmas paper bag decorations it's time to prep them for hanging. I used a hole punch to make two holes for extra strength and threaded some fishing wire through and knotted it. You could use a thin ribbon or string too.
6. Hang them up!
Odd numbers always look better so opt for 3, 5 or 7. The larger the bags the larger the decoration will be so bare that in mind. You could cut down the bags to make smaller ones.
Other hanging ideas include using Command hooks on the ceiling above your festive table, hanging them along a wall, or up the stairs in a group.
What Christmas decorations can you make out of paper?
The most iconic Christmas paper decoration is of course the humble paper chain, made by most of us as children at some point or another — and still a good classic to consider crafting.
There are other star designs and concertina-style shapes you can make too, like baubles, fans, crepe paper streamers, and paper snowflakes; perfect for a Scandi Christmas decor scheme or a display that wants to feel festive but planet-friendly.