Deck the halls

UNDER WRAPS

These colourful wrapping ideas will make your gifts look so beautiful under the tree that the person receiving them might not even want to open them!

Fabulous Feathers

Materials:

- wrapping paper (brown paper or plain white is a good option, although any that fits in your colour theme will do)
- scissors
- crepe paper in 2 contrasting colours
- sticky tape
- wool, string or ribbon to match
- feathers in contrasting colours

Instructions:

1. Wrap the gift.
2. Cut a strip of crepe paper 10cm wide to fit around gift. Use sticky tape to secure the crepe paper tightly around the gift.
3. Cut a strip of crepe paper 5cm wide in a contrasting colour. Wrap this around the middle, on top of the first piece, taping it at the back.
4. Cut a long length of wool or string and wrap it around the centre of the crepe paper a few times, tying two feathers on to the package.

Lovely Letters

Materials:

- wrapping paper — Christmas, coloured, brown or white
- pencil
- a selection of coloured cardboard and/or old cards (if you have a Christmas colour theme, choose colours to match)
- scissors
- hole punch
- string, ribbon or wool

Instructions:

1. Wrap the gift.
2. Work out the first letter of the name of the person you are giving the gift to, pencil it in big bubble writing or block writing on the card and cut it out.
3. Punch a hole in the top of the letter. Wrap string or ribbon around the gift, thread it through the hole on the letter and tie with a knot or a bow.

SPLAT!

This oversized Christmas tree will bring a festive feel to any room!

Materials:

- 1 big white or light-coloured semi-cotton/cotton shower curtain
- masking tape
- scrap paper or old newspaper
- big paintbrush
- acrylic paints of different colours
- scissors
- patterned paper or card
- double-sided sticky tape
- rod for shower curtain
- shower curtain rings
- fishing line

Instructions:

1. Place the shower curtain flat on the ground, taping the corners to the floor so it can’t move.
2. Use masking tape to make a straight line from the centre of the top edge to the bottom left corner.
3. Repeat, making a line from the centre top to the right bottom corner of the shower curtain.
4. Make another masking tape line about 30cm from the bottom of the shower curtain, from the left line to the right one, to form a big triangle.
5. Cover all of the shower curtain outside the triangle with scrap paper or newspaper (you will need to tape some of this together).
6. Dip paintbrush into different paints (rinsing brush between paints) and splatter paint on to the triangle (tree). Continue splattering until you are happy with the pattern.
7. When the paint is completely dry, remove all tape and paper.
8. Cut a 30cm x 40cm rectangle from patterned paper/card, to make a pot for the tree. Use double-sided sticky tape to attach to the shower curtain under the middle of the tree.
9. Attach shower rings and hang on rod.
10. Remove a picture you have hanging on a wall, tie fishing line to each end of the rod to make a hanger, and hang on picture hook. Alternatively, buy an adhesive hook that doesn’t mark your wall (from supermarkets or hardware stores), stick on a wall and hang fishing line on it.