DIY Wrapping Paper for Kids {Tutorial}

I was at the store this morning and my mind was BLOWN on how expensive wrapping paper is.

What the heck, Wrapping Paper?! It's the holidays!

I was lamenting on having to buy rolls of paper that were too expensive and had barely any actual wrapping upon the tubing, when Chica gave me the greatest idea ever:

Let's make our own wrapping paper!

Ok. Her idea didn't come out as clearly as that. But, as we were shopping for a secret gift for Hubby from her, she mentioned that she was going to color paper at home and wrap it around the gift.

That's when I realized I gave birth to a genius.

This may be a no-brainer idea, but it had never occurred to me before.  And it's SO EASY.  And super personal!

We always have rolls of easel paper (like this - which can be found at Bed Bath & Beyond or Toys R Us) because the girls have one of those play 2-sided easels. The rolls that attach to the drawing side of the easel are just under $8 (without a coupon - which I'm sure you could obtain). That may seem expensive, but when you consider that it holds probably 1,000 times more paper than the flimsy $4 rolls of wrapping paper at the store, you are getting serious bang for your buck.

I'm convinced that there is enough paper on one of those things to wrap a refrigerator. NO LIE.

Here's a quick how-to:

Take the roll of paper

And a bunch of coloring implements

Cut the paper to the size of the gift, or just let the kiddos
color as much of the roll as they'd like (for future use).

Wrap that gift and stick it under the tree!

I can't imagine a more meaningful way to wrap and present a gift :)  Heck - have them decorate an entire roll and give the wrapping paper as a gift!

I'd love to see how YOUR homemade wrapping paper turns out - so leave a comment and share pictures!