Craft Your Own Holiday Gift Bags

You want to cut down on costs and plan ahead this holiday season. Your child is looking for something to occupy his time while it's raining or snowing outside. Here's an idea that will delight you both: Prepare for the holiday madness by enlisting your child's creativity to make gift bags! This project will improve his artistic finesse as his sense of touch is stimulated by the cool paint. Your child will love the responsibility of creating the family's present-holders and will be proud to give gifts away in his very own creations.

What You Need:

• Red, white, and green washable paint
• Plain paper bags (lunch bags or plain gift bags from the dollar store)
• Markers
• Red ribbon
• Holiday stamps
• Stamp pads
• Wiggly eyes (from your local craft store)
• Glue
• Scissors
• Paper plates
• Paint brush
• Pencil

What You Do:

Holly Berry Bag:

1. Squirt red paint onto the paper plate.
2. Ask your child to dip his finger into the paint and direct him in making three berry prints in the middle of the bag.
3. Using a green marker, draw leaves around the berry.
4. For an extra touch, curl a red ribbon and tie it to the top of the holly plant.

Rubber Stamp Bag:

1. Get a collection of holiday stamps together.
2. Encourage your child to get creative and stamp his own pattern on the paper bags.

Santa Handprint Bag:

1. Squirt white paint onto the paper plate. Encourage your child to dip his hand into the paint so that his palm and fingers are covered.
2. Make an upside-down handprint on a brown paper bag.
3. Paint a red Santa hat along top of the upside-down hand so that it flops over onto the side of the thumb. Leave the tip of the thumb white for the white tassel.
4. Glue on wiggly eyes or draw eyes and rest of face. The hanging fingers make up Santa's beard.

Wreath Handprint Bag (you'll need a larger bag for this one):

1. Squirt green paint onto a plate. Ask your child to squish his hand in the paint.
2. Draw a light circle (for the inside of the wreath) in the middle of the bag.
3. Encourage your child to make green handprints around the circle.
4. Squirt red paint onto the plate. Dip your child’s finger into the red paint and direct him to make berries around the green wreath.
5. Glue a curled red ribbon to the top of the wreath for decoration.

Get ready for gift-giving! Friends and family will be so enthralled with your one-of-a-kind bags that they'll forget there's a present inside!