DIY : Fabric Scrap Party Bags

Following from my last gift wrapping post, another DIY for you. These fabric party or favour bags are really easy to make and really easy to adapt. I made these for my daughters sixth birthday last month. Thankfully, we’ve moved past large class parties and can now host parties for her small group of friends which makes DIY-ing much easier.

Wherever I can, I try to use up what craft supplies I have. These bags make the most of a fabric stash and I would encourage you to have a look and see what treasures you have . They could easily be made using a mix of fabrics or even pretty wrapping paper.

Every parent I speak to, gets completely overwhelmed by the expectation and amount of waste that goes into giving party bags. We all feel so guilty about the amount of unnecessary waste that goes into them yet still pulled by parental guilt to come up with the goods. For these party bags aimed at six year olds, I filled them with a mix of hairbands, stickers and pens all found on Temu (another source of guilt). In the hope that the items and bags will get more than a one-time use without spending a fortune.

I’m pleased to say they went down a treat. Not only did they look really pretty but they have already been put to good use. I think I’m going to make a few more upcoming festivities. Here’s how to make…

For these fabric party bags you’ll need the following materials…

A selection of colourful fabric, ideally cotton, length of ribbon, plain gift tags and a selection of washi tape to decorate.

Step 1 – Cut a length of fabric 20cm x 50cm. Fold the shortest edges over by 4cm and press.

Step 2 – Fold the fabric in half, wrong sides facing together. Make sure one edge falls about 0.5cm lower than the other. Stitch both sides together, I used my sewing machine but you could hand stitch or even using hemming table.

Step 3 – Decorate the gift tags. I got Milly to do this, she loved choosing different designs for each of her friends.

Step 4 – Fill with goodies and then fold and wrap the top. To finish tie ribbon around the whole thing and tuck the tag in.