Don't Toss Holiday Cards—Here's A Clever Way To Repurpose Them

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

If you're sentimental — or thrifty, as the case may be — it can be hard to toss out the Christmas cards that arrive each year. They're so pretty when they're sitting on top of the fireplace mantel that it's disheartening to imagine them at the bottom of the trash under bits of soggy Christmas cookies and old holiday bills. However, if you really don't have it in you to make rubbish of them after the holidays are through, why not give them a second life by turning them into some budget-friendly DIY holiday gift tags for Christmases to come? 

The "pre-owned" Christmas cards you'll use for this project don't all have to come from your own stash, though there is an argument for that. Using your own cards gives you a way to preserve some Christmas nostalgia in your decor. That said, if you're a regular shopper on sites like eBay or like to go junking to see what you can find at the local thrift store, you may find a stash of vintage cards that would be suitable for this project. You'll likely trim them down a bit, so keep that in mind so you don't cut off an important part of the image during the crafting process.

To turn the cards into gift tags, you'll also need some scissors, a pencil, a ruler, a hole punch, and some form of rope, like the Vanhench Natural Jute Twine String, in the color of your choice. Natural, black, white, orange, red, and green are available. Christmas ribbon is a nice alternative for twine in this holiday DIY, too.

When you're repurposing your old gift cards, keep in mind that not everything on a card's scenery deserves to be a gift tag. Ideally, you'll isolate the best part of the image when you trim the card down. One way you can do this is to cut a viewfinder of sorts out of the back of one of the cards. This is basically a picture frame made of cardboard. You'll slide the frame over the image, trying to isolate the best views on the card to cut out. Those will be inside the frame.

Once you've isolated the right picture within the frame, use a pencil to make a border inside the viewfinder frame. The area inside the pencil marks becomes the tag. Cut that out. Next, punch a hole in the corner of the tag with a RUIFYRAY Single Hole Punch. Cut a piece of twine and string it through the hole to make the tag.

To give the tag some reinforcement, consider backing the tag with another wooden gift tag like the Sophena Large Christmas Wooden Ornaments Tags or some MixTeach Store 2.5-Inch by 3.5-Inch Unfinished Wood Gift Tags (for tags on the smaller side). Use the wooden gift tags to create a pattern for the repurposed gift cards. This ensures that the trimmed card fits the wooden tag. Glue the old greeting card onto the wooden tag with a craft glue. Be sure to punch a hole in the top of the repurposed holiday card before you glue it onto the wooden tag. Add string to it and store it for next year.