There’s pretty much nothing I love more than a beautifully wrapped gift. It might even be my love language. Ha, but really, I think there’s something so special about a gift that was lovingly crafted. I mean, not only did you get someone something special but then you took the time and attention to make it extra beautiful. And nobody is ever sad about receiving a pretty package! I have a baby shower to go to soon and I’m already brainstorming wrapping ideas – that’s how today’s post came to be. For a few basics, read this post about gift wrapping Christmas gifts a few years ago.

Gift Wrapping Paper

As I was perusing my wrapping paper collection to see if I had anything appropriate for a boy shower I found this armadillo one. Isn’t it the best?? One of my friends gave it to me. Actually she gave us a gift wrapped in it and I was so obsessed with it that I saved it to use in the future (am I 80?) and then one day I got an awesome package in the mail with several sheets of it that she so kindly sent so I wouldn’t have to use old paper. So, the paper was the starting point for this gift and I love it for a boy, it’s the perfect way to take it in a less traditional direction. But, the color and the theme totally work. From there I started brainstorming ribbon ideas, but nothing I had or could find felt like the right fit. Generally, I love using ribbon and tying nice knot (again, see post from above), but for some reason this time that just wasn’t doing it for me.

DIY Gift Topper Idea

When I was cruising the aisles of Target looking for something the idea of these tissue poms came to me. I was so excited and knew it would make such a cool topper. They’re really similar to the tissue poms that you can buy to hang at parties. Well, you can really easily make those and that’s basically what I did here – I just fluffed them out all to one side so they made a semi-circle instead of a circle. I made three in varying sizes using colors that complimented the paper and clustered them together. I’m pretty obsessed with how it turned out and man those things are cute!!

Step-by-step DIY Instructions

Below are the instructions for making the poms and I highly recommend making a few for your next gift!

1. Choose the tissue that goes best with your gift wrap. I used a mix of new and old. I save any kind of colored tissue I get in gifts. I really am 80! You can see my stash in the corner of some of these photos.

2. Cut out at least 8 sheets of tissue. The more sheets you use the fuller the pom will be. In the picture of the two green ones I used less in the right pom. The size of the paper will depend on your desired size of the pom. For the white mine were about six inches wide, for green they were about four, and for blue they were about two and half. Don’t worry too much about the size though, there’s really no science to it. It’s fine if they end up a little bigger or smaller.

3. Smooth out any old sheets and then neatly stack them all together. Fold them accordion style (folding over, flipping, and folding over the other way) until you get to the end. I made my folds about ½ inch, but again there’s no perfect way to do it. My only suggestion here is to keep the folds somewhat loose. If they’re too tight it’s harder to fluff the tissue out at the end. So, ignore that desire for super crisp creases.