Use Old Paper Bags To DIY A Festive Banner For Thanksgiving

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When Turkey Day shopping has already commenced, wise DIYers know what that means. No, they're not thinking about making the turkey — not yet, anyway. Instead, their creative brains are consumed with all of those glorious brown paper shopping bags just sitting around, waiting to be turned into decorations. And the decoration of choice is a festive Thanksgiving banner. Crafts like these lean into all of the qualities that make old paper bags great art materials. They're easy to cut into new shapes and they sport painted holiday messages like a boss. Plus, these banners are so easy to make you could even wait until Thanksgiving Day to DIY them and still have time leftover to stuff the turkey.

You can repurpose paper shopping bags for this craft if your local grocery store has replaced its plastic bags with paper ones. If your favorite supermarket hasn't made the switch, bags are available for purchase – MUCHII 57-LB Kraft Paper Bags are the kind of sacks you'll need for this. You'll decorate the bags with art supplies such as markers or pens, craft paint, and paint brushes. Felt or stick-on letters also make cute decorative additions to this DIY. Twine, yarn, or a fancy string like Sunmns Striped String Rope Cord finish out this craft's list of raw materials. As for tools, they're probably about what you'd expect for this budget-friendly Thanksgiving craft – scissors, a hole punch, and a ruler. And, don't forget to grab your glue gun. That'll come in handy, too.

This Thanksgiving banner is pennant-style, meaning that it features lots of paper triangles which hang on a string. The triangles will be easier to make if you create a stencil for them using a cut-out from the thicker portions of the bottom of the bag. Once you outline the pattern, cut a number of triangles out of the paper bags. And, here's a pro tip for how big to make the triangles: Use the size of the letters you'll paint onto or attach to each flag as a guide for the triangles' height. For example, if the letters for your "Happy Thanksgiving" message are 6 inches tall, then the triangles should be around 8 inches tall at least. Use a ruler to ensure exact proportions.

Next, decorate the banner's triangles. Ready-made letters like SIWUCHYE Wooden Letters for Crafts are great options for this Thanksgiving decoration if you're using thick bags. Or, try gluing colorful fall leaves onto the paper triangles. If you use the glycerin leaf hack, which preserves the leaves' autumn hues, you can use real foliage as embellishments. Thanksgiving-themed stencils can also be used to make the banner more festive. And, attaching tassels or twine bows to the bottom points of the triangles would be a pretty addition, too.

Once the painted letters are dry, punch a hole in the top two corners of each triangle. Finally, cut a long length of twine and string the triangle-shaped flags onto the banner before hanging it up above the fireplace or in an archway of your home to greet Thanksgiving guests.