How To Make Garden-Inspired Holiday Gift Tags

For the month of December Garden Collage is rolling out a special feature for our GC readers: an interactive holiday calendar that celebrates the garden in the season of comfort and joy. Our GC Holiday Calendar features exclusive giveaways, gift guides, holiday beauty tips, video tutorials, recipes, and other fresh ideas designed to bring the garden into peoples’ lives.

Below is our easy holiday craft to get Lil’ Sprouts involved in gift giving, especially if they are still to young to pick out gifts for others themselves. By (literally) getting their hands dirty, Lil’ Sprouts learn the importance of putting care and meaning into all that you do, especially what you do for others (even if you know it will all be ripped off in an instant). The outside should reflect all the thought and attention that goes into selecting what’s inside.

For our gift tags, we selected materials, textures, and motifs that still felt close to nature, so we might continue bringing the garden into people’s lives–and hopefully inspire you to do the same.

Materials:

• Card stock or seed paper
• Scissors
• Finger paint (or other non-toxic paint)
• Ribbon or twine
• Hole puncher
• Newspaper (or other material to protect surfaces from paint)

Directions:

1. Create a template of the shape of your tag. For our tags, we used a traditional shape (pictured above) but more seasonal shapes (like a tree or star) can also be used.
2. Trace the shape of your tag onto the card stock or seed paper, cut out several, and punch a hole at the top of each.
3. Lay down newspaper and have Lil’ Sprouts paint the cards with their fingers, for a more personal feel. Fingerprints can be arranged into trees, flowers, and other natural designs.
4. Once the cards are dry, address them to the intended recipient, affix to the gift with string, and enjoy the gift of giving!