My 4 year old son is in preschool now and that means we're officially on the birthday party circuit!  I'm an event planner... I love a good party!  But I also love wrapping presents!  Maybe just as much as buying the present itself.

With many parties coming down the pike, I thought I'd share one of the creative and inexpensive ways I add a bit of whimsy to a child's gift.

Pipe Cleaners!  Start with one package of pipe cleaners from the dollar store.

To make this package topper, I used 3 stems of each primary color.  (One of the things I love about making these is that you can create any color combination you need to match the paper.)

Hold the stems straight and bunch them together.

Take one additional stem and tie it around the middle to hold the bunch together.  Then start pulling each stem apart so you have something like this:

You could leave it like this, if you wanted.  Even cut the stems at various lengths.

From here, I wanted to create something to attach it to the package.  I cut out a small square of cardstock and hot glued it onto the bottom middle of the stems.  This created a backing like you get with store bought bows.  Then you can simply tape the whole thing onto the package.

From here, I decide to create squigglys from the stems. All you have to do is wrap each stem around a pencil.  Don't worry, it doesn't take as long as you would think.

 

Finished package!

Sidenote:  This wrapping paper came from the Dollar Tree as well.  I love it because it's gender neutral and full of primary colors.

Total cost to wrap this package - $2.

Plus, I have plenty of leftovers for more.

I had no less than 4 parents ask me about this topper. Even the birthday boy's DAD said, "That's so cool! I've never seen anything like it."

Happy wrapping!