Do you have any fun St. Patrick's Day traditions or plans? At our house, I like to surprise the kids with a small gift or treat, usually in the morning before school. It's a fun tradition that the kids look forward to. Let me show you how easy it is to make these printable St. Patrick's Day gift bags.
This year, I have created 3 free printables that you can print on an inexpensive lunch bag with your home printer. First, you will need to download the free printable design(s) that you want to print.
Download the free St. Patrick's Day printables here.
You will need a piece of cardstock, a white lunch bag, Scotch tape and a printer. The best way I have found to print on paper sacks is to tape the sack to a piece of cardstock and put it in the regular paper tray of your printer.
Use a piece of long tape to tape the bottom of the sack near the bottom of cardstock. Use a 1-2 inch piece of tape to tape the sides of the bag down.
Hints
- If you stick the Scotch tape to your clothing first and then use it to adhere the bag to the cardstock, it will still stick to the paper but not so much that it rips or tears the paper sack when you remove the tape after it's been printed.
- I found it helpful to measure and draw lines with a Sharpie marker so that I knew exactly where to tape the paper sack. If the sack is off center, the design will print crooked on the paper sack.
- When you print the PDF, be sure the orientation is portrait and the size is set to “actual” size. I designed the printables to fit generic paper lunch sacks from the grocery store.
For my printer, the cardstock needs to go into the paper tray upside down (with the paper bag face down) and the closed end of the bag going in first. Then I moved the guide so that it held the cardstock/bag combo in tight. You many need to experiment with your printer to see how the paper will feed so that you know how to load the cardstock/paper bag combo.
Here is how it looks when it comes out of the printer. Carefully remove the tape from the bottom and sides and you are ready to use it!
Here are some fun, inexpensive ideas for goodies to put in your cute paper gift sacks.
- Green treats – Kid's and husbands love receiving some yummy goodies that they don't have to share.
- Leprechaun Gold – Gold wrapped chocolates are a great idea for teachers or neighbors or your favorite chocoholic.
- Green clothes – You can often find $5 green T-shirts at places like Walmart, Target and Old Navy. If that isn't in your budget, look for green socks, shamrock glasses, St. Patrick's scarves or hair bows at your local dollar store, party store or Dollar Spot at Target.
Here are some examples of how you can put some finishing touches on your gift bags. I folded back the top of the bag on the left. Then punched a hole and tied some ribbons through it. On the bag in the middle, I folded the top forward and used some decorative scissors to scallop the edge. Then I punched 2 holes and tied a ribbon bow. On the bag on the right, I cut off the top 1/3 of the bag and stuffed some tissue paper in the top.
I just love the way they turned out and I can't wait to see the kids reactions to what the Leprechaun's left for them!
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