Can you turn a paper bag into a Christmas ornament? Well, this paper bag star ornament craft certainly proves it can be done without much effort!

Did you know that the average American spends $261 every holiday season on Christmas decorations and other holiday items? This excludes gifts, so you understand that it’s a big number!

What’s worse is that most of these decorations end up in a landfill. It is estimated that the Christmas season alone produces 30% more waste than any other time of the year. That’s a lot, especially when we consider the fact that most of it is wrapping paper and decorations!

That’s why trends like ‘Buy Nothing Christmas‘ or ‘Zero Waste Christmas‘ are gaining traction, with people wanting to spend less and waste less during the holidays. In that spirit, we’ve decided to go for handmade Christmas ornaments this year – including this easy brown paper bag star ornament made with a recycled lunch bag!

Contents show

Easy DIY Paper Bag Star Ornament for Christmas

Supplies required:

Brown paper bag
String
Pencil
Craft glue
A pair of scissors

How to make the paper bag star ornament:

1. Lay your paper bag flat and measure out a rectangle 20 cm by 8 cm. Cut out your measured rectangle – this will be the base of our ornament.

2. Fold the longer side in half.

3. Fold it again 3 or 4 more times. Unfold. You can now see many creases along your rectangle.

4. Use the crease lines as a guide to make accordion folds. You only need about 6 folds, so if you have more, you can cut off the excess.s

5. Fold the paper along the accordion fold lines to get a nice, thick stack of paper. Hold it in place with a thin string as shown below. Make sure the string is right in the middle, or you’ll end up with a lopsided paper bag star ornament!

6. From the top left corner, draw a slanting line down, towards the right side. Similarly, draw another line from the bottom left corner, slanting upwards towards the right side. Cut along both these lines so that you get a trapezoid shape as shown below.

7. Apply glue all over the top face of the trapezoid, one either side of the string.

8. Fold both glued sides on opposite ends of the string towards each other. Secure the two parts in place.

9. Turn the paper pattern over – this is what it looks like from the top, with one end pointy, hiding the string inside, and the other end flat with the string still visible.

10. Repeat Step 8 with the flat end of your paper bag star ornament pattern. Now you have two pointy ends on opposite sides.

11. Use your fingertips, carefully open the folded parts to give the star a fuller appearance.

12. Nearly there! Now attach a loop of ribbon or string on the back of the paper bag ornament so you can hang it.

There you go – your paper bag star ornament is finally complete, and it’s looking good!

We love this paper bag star ornament as it is, but there are many ways you can ramp it up. You can add some glitter with glue or a glitter pen to make it more sparkly. You can paint it with acrylic paints to turn it into a completely different color. You can swap out the twine with satin ribbon. With so many options, you can create a tree that’s completely decorated with these paper bag stars!

If you’d like to make more DIY ornaments this year, check these out: