My son is turning 14 this summer, if you haven’t heard. There’s just something cool about birthdays and celebrating with him…because he’s mine and he’s special and b-days are special…I don’t know. So, this year, I’ve decided to be silly-creative and I made him a cute DIY Hula Girl Gift Bag to go with his summer birthday. Sweet, huh? Heh.
I got the idea while I was shopping for his card. Because, seriously, I feel like gift cards are like the “finishing touch” of any gift. The place you write down the words of love that your kids can hold onto when that silly gift is buried 8-feet under all the other junk they get. Because it’s the thought that counts–not the gift and they’ll remember that one day when the fun of the toy has faded, but the ink on the card has not.
And now, I’m crying (my baby’s growing up!), so let’s move on to the fun!
What You Need to Make the DIY Hula Girl Gift Bag
- An American Greetings Birthday Card (or two, if you can’t decide, like me, heh)
- American Greetings Gift Bag in Blue
- American Greetings Tissue Paper in Multiple Colors (mostly the yellow, though)
- 1 4-inch Foam Ball OR 2 4-inch half-balls (that’s what I got, so I didn’t have to cut it in half)
- Brown Craft Paint
- Paint Brush or Sponge
- Hot Glue Gun and Glue
- Scissors
- Lei (if it’s off-season, you can make one with the tissue paper–I’ll do a tutorial for that soon, too, LOL)
I got EVERYTHING for this project (and the actual gift for my son–some awesome headphones, but don’t tell him) at my local Walmart on the gift card and craft aisles. Literally, I was in and out in less than 10 minutes..which is what I like about Walmart. They have everything. LOL!
How to Put Together the DIY Hula Girl Gift Bag
Feel free to run with scissors and drive without maps–and use this photo tutorial to figure out how to put your hula girl gift bag together. Heh.
Oh, you actually want to KNOW what goes into making the bag? Ok…here’s some real directions for the rest of us.
- Start by cutting your foam ball in half, if you didn’t buy halves.
- Paint the foam ball halves brown to make them look like coconut halves. Allow to dry completely before handling further.
- Cut 4-6 sheets of tissue paper to be the same dimensions as one large side of the bag.
- Hot glue the top 1/2-inch of each of the yellow tissue paper sheets to the top of the bag.
- Using the scissors, cut the loose portion of the tissue paper sheets into 1/4- to 1/2-inch strips.
- Hot glue the coconut halves to the top of the bag, just below the top, on top of the yellow tissue paper sheets.
- Trim your lei to be about a foot long.
- Hot glue each end of the lei to the opposite sides of the bag.
- Fill gift bag with gift and top with card. Ta DA!
And that’s it. Seriously. That easy. Just fill your bag with gift and other fun colors of the rainbow American Greetings tissue paper and you’re ready for the party. Well, we were. And then my son destroyed the tissue paper getting the gift out. So. There’s that. But he sure was amused by my DIY Hula Girl Gift Bag. Seriously cool. LOL!
Be sure to head over to Walmart and get your American Greetings cards and supplies–or, if you’re not making it right this instance, make sure you pin it!
