Small gift boxes from old cards (Great way to reuse your Christmas and Birthday Cards)

Gift packages from old Holiday Cards. (c) 2011, Kristen Stein, StudioArtworks.com

Here is a quick and easy tutorial on how to take old Christmas cards or any occasion card and turn it into a small gift box suitable for holding a gift card, jewelry, or other small gift item. Kids love making these....just be careful with the scissors.  Let an adult or older child be in charge of scoring the edges

What you'll need:

• Old Cards
• Glue (Glue sticks work great)
• Scissors
• Flat edge or ruler (optional)

First select your card.

Now trim about a 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch off one of the longest edges on the side of the card. Only trim one side of the card.

Now you should have one of the longest edges of the card exposed. We want to score the remaining edge with the scissors to make it easier to foldover.

If you have a flat-edge or a ruler, you can line this up with the cut part of the card and run the scissors along the edge to score the remaining part of the card.  This will make it much easier to fold.  If you don't have a ruler, just use the cut part of the card as your guide. Fold this scored flap to the inside of the card.

Once folded inside, apply glue to the top of the folded portion.  (In the picture above, this is the part with the image on it)  A glue stick works great. Press the card together with the folded edge on the inside of the card.

 This is how the card should appear once the folded edge is glued to the inside of the card.

Above is the view from the inside of the card.  We are almost done.

Now to make the flaps on the side of the gift package.  You'll want to round out the edges.  Just trim about a 1/4 inch from the edges and round them out evenly on both sides.

With the edge of your scissors, score the card from corner to corner mimicking the shape of the rounded edge.  Do this on both sides, front and back.  So you should create four scored edges. Again, scoring the card will make it much easier to fold and create the flap that you want on the edge of the gift package.

Gently squeeze the card to open slightly and push down the flaps along all four scored edges.  You should now have a small gift box suitable for holding a gift card, jewelry, or other small gift!

Note: If your flaps are too wide and hang over the edge of the gift box, don't worry.  Just flatten the box again and trim slightly until the flaps close nicely on each edge.


I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.  Please post pictures if you try this at home! Also, check out my other tutorial on how to make paper globe ornaments out of old Holiday cards and calendars.

Something else to make with these :  Take 24 of these small gift boxes and string them together for an advent calendar banner for next year. Each one can be filled with a special little gift, treat or note for the little one to count down the days until Christmas.