Spruce up Holiday Gift Bags with These DIY Curly Ribbon Tags

'Tis the season for ... gift bags! When it comes to gifting, I am a huge advocate of gift bags -- after all it's much easier to "wrap" gifts in a bag. I especially love plain gift bags that can be repurposed for any occasion and are typically much cheaper than more elaborate ones. Plus, a blank canvas can often lead to more creative gift-giving and my kids love to help decorate the bags! 

One way my family spruces up our holiday gift bags is with handmade gift tags. Here are some ideas -- and some free printables! -- to help you get started. One file is ready to print and cut out and the other is black and white so you can color the pictures how you'd like.

Supplies:

• Plain gift bag
• Curling ribbon
• Hole punch
• Scissors
• Tape
• Paper

Instructions:

1. Either use our printables below or cut a silhouette of the shape you'd like for your tag. (Have a boy? The black and white printable has one you can color, or cut out the girl from the pre-colored printable, trim off the pigtails, and decorate as you wish.)
2. Punch holes where you'd like to add ribbons to your shape. For the Santa, we pulled ribbons through his beard. For the girls, you can pull ribbons through their hair ties. For the bells, we added the ribbons near the top.
3. Pull ribbon halfway through each hole and curl with scissors. The length of ribbon used will depend on how much curl you'd like.
4. Embellish your creations as you please and attach to your gift bag with tape or by tying a ribbon end to one of the handles.
5. Write the recipient's name on the back of the tag.

It's that simple and you and your kids will have created one-of-a-kind gift bags that might receive just as many oohs and aahs as the gift inside!

Click on each image below to get your FREE DIY curly ribbon tags printable:

Sarah Hauge is the publisher of Macaroni Kid Englewood, Greenwood Village, Centennial, Colo.