Everyone buys the plastic party bags for treats etc to go in, well I wanted to be different! As lil man is having a Thomas tank themed party the plastic thomas bags are over £2 for 8 and i have 12 kids going to be there.
I bought a roll of thomas tank wrapping paper for 99p and found a link on how to make party bags on pinterest. They are actually quite easy to do once you get the hang of them and I guess with more practise they would look much neater, but lil man thinks they are ok for his birthday which is fine by me.
You need a box the size of the bag you are making, another box you can cut up, scissors, glue or double sided tape, paper, hole punch and ribbon.
Take the box that you are using for the size of the bag and using 1 end draw round it onto the other cardboard (do this for as many bags as you are making) and then cut them out.
These will be used later to re-enforce the base of the bag and make it stand up.
From here you need to fold the edge over about 1/2-1" (depending on size of bag your making - smaller bag = less fold). And also fold down the top edge as it's easier to do now before the bag is assembled. Once you have the folds you need to add glue or double sided tape to the fold on the side. Place the box on the paper and cover like you would to wrap a present. Before you stick the folded side to it you need to get it on the shorted edge (depth) of the box as it will look better.
You now have a part-wrapped present, you need to move the paper from the bottom part of the box so that it over hangs and you can fold the bottom. Again do it as you would a normal present and glue or double sided tape it together. Remove the box from the wrapper carefully.
Take the small rectangle of cardboard you cut out at the start and add glue or double sided tape to one side of it (the box I used had writing on one side so I put the tape on this side.) Then push it into you bag and down to the bottom.
From here you are almost done, you need to pinch the top at the sides and fold inwards so that you get a crease shape like shop bought bags have. Crease them hard with your fingers on both sides.
You can now put holes at the top of both sides and add the ribbon as handles. I'm not adding ribbon to mine but going to staple shut once they have the goodies in. As you can see the bag is complete and stands up. You can also fold them over so that they lay flat and take up less room if you need to store them or transport them anywhere.
I will certainly try and make them in the future rather than buying them. I do think thicker paper will be easier than thin birthday wrap, but as I wanted thomas ones I had to use what I had.
