Low Budget Home Solutions: Giving Life to Crumpled Christmas Gift Bows

A Crumpled Bow in Disguise

As I was wrapping my Christmas gifts last night and was thinking about sharing a great technique for disguising some of the less desirable package bows, I realized that I haven't blogged since October! So I'm sorry if you were looking for a November and December posting. Here is December's last minute posting and I'll try to make up for November when I find time during this busy season. (Not that any of you probably follow this blog.)

Some Crumpled Bows I Found this Year

It never fails. You pull out the Christmas wrappings from last year to see what you can salvage to use this year and you find many of those store-bought Christmas bows crumpled and ugly. Whether they started out that way or became disfigured when you stuffed them away is beside the point. Don't waste time pointing fingers. These bows are not something you want to put on any one's present but you've already spent good money to buy them. So what do you do? Throw them away and eat the cost? No way.

Here's how you can breathe some life into those bows. (This is something I learned from my sister, although I think she just did it because it is pretty!) Take some coordinating pieces of curling ribbon or other Christmas ribbon that can be curled and curl it (I use scissors to do this). String the pieces of ribbon through the loops of your crumpled bow. It is as simple as that. You can use a few different colors and types of ribbon to spice it up. You can add a couple of pieces or a few more, it all depends on your style and how badly the bow is smashed. This is also a good way to use up those bits of ribbon leftover at the end of the roll.

The Finished Product

I decorated the following bow using a thick metallic ribbon. I curled it first with my scissors and then cut small slits at one end. Then I pulled the ribbon apart to make thinner, irregular lengths of ribbon to put through my bow. The finished product is to the left.