Interactive Gift Wrap for Kids

There are so many fun and creative ideas for wrapping gifts, but most of them are geared more for adults. Usually, kids probably prefer you to wrap their presents in wrapping paper with their favorite TV character on it. Here are a few fun interactive gift wrapping ideas, ways to make the outside of your gift almost as entertaining as the inside.

1. Wrap your gift in simple kraft wrapping paper, but instead of ribbon and a bow, add a toy car and a road. Matchbox and Hotwheels cars only cost about $1 each, and are a creative and exciting decoration on the outside of a gift. I made this one using 2.5 inch strips of black construction paper, a white paint pen, and a yellow toy car. I also stamped the word vroom on one box, but you could also stamp the child's name. I attached the cars with a hot glue gun. It allows the car to stay on the box at any angle, plus it easily peels off after the gift is opened.

2. "Color Me" wrapping paper - Wrap your gift in simple white paper. I use rolls of white paper from the kids' section at Ikea. Stamp the words "color me" on a corner of the box, and attach crayons instead of a bow. Make sure the gift inside isn't too breakable or delicate, and let the child tear off the crayons and color all over the box, decorating it in any way he or she wants. I know my kids will love this!

3. "Decorate Me" Christmas Tree Wrapping - Wrap your gift in simple kraft paper. Cut out the shape of a Christmas tree from green paper, and glue it to the front. Get sheets of stickers, roll them, secure them with tape, then place them along the tree. Stamp the words "decorate me" on the box, and let the child decorate their tree with stickers before opening their gift.

4. Crossword Gift Wrap - This crossword wrapping paper is made by designer Fabio Milito (via Life Hacker). You could make this sort of wrapping paper yourself using a Word Search Creator, and using words like Christmas, joy, reindeer, manger or names of people in your family.