DIY | Advent Calendar Day 1: Tea Bag Packaging

Today I'm kicking off my huge Advent Calendar series! I will be posting almost daily (!!) so be sure to come back for daily advent calendar gift + wrapping ideas (not the mention the free templates!).

A quick note about packaging: don't feel like you have to go out and purchase a bunch of wrapping paper, 9 spools of ribbon, and 32 rolls of tape for this project. While I love the look of uniform advent calendars, I chose to wrap each individual gift differently to challenge myself to be creative in my packaging, but I kept the color palette of recycled brown/red/white/gold as the theme tying everything together. The only packaging ephemera that I purchased was the bakers' twine (about $3) because I wanted that indie rustic homemade look, but I highly encourage you to use what you already have. Here's a peek at all the materials I used to package the various goodies.

Kraft paper, tissue paper, tp/paper towel rolls, rotary/hole punch, glitter, metallic markers, twine, assorted scrap ribbon, assorted cardstock, old book pages, scissors, X-acto knife + mat, metal letters, double tape, sticker labels, elastic, adhesive gems, scrap cardboard

Today I'll show you how I packaged a set of DIY'd pearl bobby pins for Day 1 of Advent Calendar. I'll also be posting a DIY for the pearl bobby pins in the near future, so stay tuned!

DIY Tea Bag Packaging

(Difficulty: Easy)

Supplies

(1) Download the mini-teabag template here
(2) Scrap cardboard (old cereal boxes work great!)
(3) Twine
(4) Scrap cardstock
(5) Double-tape
(6) Scissors
(7) X-acto knife + cutting mat
(8) Sticker labels (not shown)
(9) Stapler (shark face optional)
(P.S. I haven't the foggiest idea about what that rotary punch is doing there since it wasn't used...so please ignore it :P)

Steps

1. Print out the template and trace onto your scrap cardboard. Cut along the solid lines and score along the dotted lines (folding lines). The gray areas will be where your double tape should stick. Assemble your tea bag box.

2. To make the tag, cut a small length of twine about 6" long. Attach one end to a small folded piece of cardstock with double tape.

3. I thought the box looked a little plain so I added a white rectangle using leftover sticker labels to the bottom half of the front + back of the box.

4. Now's a good time to fill your box up with a little gift or treat! I clipped the bobby pins to a book page-covered cardboard square.

5. Attach the other end of the twine to the back of the box with double tape. Fold down the top flap and secure with a stapler. 

6. From the back, bring the twine under the box and attach the tag to the front with some more double tape, looping any extra twine behind the tag.

This is a creative way to package smaller and your recipient will have a unique experience when unwrapping it! The bobby pins are a great stocking stuffer as well :)

Yesterday: DIY Recycled Mailbox | Tomorow: Day 2 - DIY Diagonal Wrap Tag Packaging

All Advent Calendar-related posts can be found here.

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