What can you do with a monumental supply of food wrapping paper? Well – just about anything you want, but if you’re feeling a little less inventive then maybe a few suggestions will get you started. All of these wonderful things can be done with our White News Chip Wrapping Paper – just in case you fancied purchasing copious amounts of the stud and weren’t quite sure what to do with all of that paper.
1: Wrap food. Not as obvious as it sounds, honest. You don’t have to own a takeaway, you could just have some friends over for lunch and want to do something that makes your home-cooked fish and chips stand out a little. Serving it on paper will do exactly that – and saves on some washing up too.
2: Protect a surface. Letting the kids decorate biscuits on the dining room table? A sheet of this stuff across the table will make everything easy to clean up afterwards – so you don’t have to worry about how to scrub a mixture of melted sugar, icing and chocolate off the table without scratching it every again.
3: Let the kids draw or paint. Children are easily entertained, despite what some parents and teachers tell you. A box of crayons and a big sheet of paper and they’ll leave you alone for hours. Take a bath. Put your feet up. The kids are entertained, and so long as you check every so often to make sure they haven’t eaten the crayons it’s all good.
4: Make hats. Had a few drinks? Got kids? Looking for a way to make the teams in your Pictionary game clear? Who cares what the reason is; some paper, some tape and some pens/pencils/crayons/paints are all it takes to make yourself some hats. Trust me, they’ll be the height of style this season.
5: Origami. How many times have you thought about learning to do origami? You could impress all of your friends and maybe even attract a partner with those sorts of mad skills. Of course – you’re going to use up you’re whole supply of paper practicing to make the little frog that jumps. How do they even do that?
6: Confetti. How bored are you? How bored are your kids? Colour in paper any way you like, then cut it into little strips, shapes and pieces. Fun part is that you now get to throw it at someone. Preferably in their house – you don’t want to clean that up.
7: Wrapping Paper. You should probably decorate it first. But it works, and if it’s someone you don’t want to put that much effort into in the first place it makes an excellent option for wrapping obligatory gifts. Or secret Santa gifts – they’re supposed to be done on the cheap anyway.
8: Cards. Kids love making little cards, so go ahead and let them go nuts with this stuff. Half of your family members would rather get a bit of cheap paper the bairn has coloured in that one of those 15p cards you were going to give them anyway.
9: Puzzles and Activities. Children are funny aren’t they? Hate doing their homework but make it colourful and put it on a huge sheet of paper and they’re dying to do it. Don’t believe me? Try it.
10: Planting Pots. Fun fact; paper is biodegradable. Know what that means? Cut out a big circle and make a slit from the outer edge to the centre point. Use this to turn it into a cone. Drop in a bit of soil, a seed, some more soil and stick it in the ground. Now – admittedly this isn’t much different from just sticking a seed in a hole in the ground, but kids are never quite as impressed with that as they are a paper cone of dirt.
11: Make a Kite. Some say this is better with children. Admittedly you might look a little more normal if you head off to the beach with a taped up, coloured in little paper kite and kids, but who really cares about that? It’s a challenge of your design and engineering skill if you can create your own kite and actually get it to fly. Want to have some fun with your friends? Make it a competition and create a kite each. Find out which one of you has a future in art and crafts.
12: Rodent Bedding. Rats, hamsters, guinea-pigs, rabbits; they all need something absorbent, warm and reasonably soft to sleep in and do their business on. If you’ve ever bought the proper rodent bedding you get in pet shops then you know it’s pretty expensive just to have your ungrateful pet pee all over it. Plus there are only so many Metro newspapers you can pinch in a day, particularly if you don’t use public transport. This stuff shreds beautifully, and doesn’t leave you wondering how you’re going to afford toilet paper for yourself, never mind the rodents.
13: Puppy Training. Okay, so at some point you maybe thought it would be a nice idea to get a sweet little puppy. But then you got it home and it just started to pee on everything. Nice new rug? I think you mean toilet. Kitchen floor? I think you mean toilet. Your duvet? I think you mean toilet. The garden? Don’t be silly – it’s cold and wet out there! Those puppy training pads are onto something, particularly in the winter, all you have to do is teach the pup to do their business there by placing them on it when they go to do their stuff. Then when they have that down just start slowly moving the paper closer and closer to the garden until it’s outside. Bam. Housetrained. The only issue – those pads are freaking expensive. Unless the puppy is going to learn housetraining in a week you need an alternative. Paper. Paper will do. This paper to be exact.
14: Emergency Tissue or Toilet Roll. We aren’t always prepared for running out of the things we need. However, if you rub, crumple and scrub paper a bit it softens and becomes and adequate emergency substitute until you have a chance to go shopping.
15: Paper Aeroplanes. Giant ones. Just because you can.
16: Decorations. Kids love it when they get to make the decorations and put them up, and there are so many things they can make out of paper. Bunting, streamers, cut outs, shapes, balls. It’ll keep them entertained for a while, and you don’t have to put up the decorations.
17: Crafts. I saw a girl make a dress out of newspapers one time. Don’t underestimate what a kid with paper and glue can accomplish. Or how long it can keep them quiet – seriously just give your kids paper, glue and colours. Creativity is good for their development. Working together, making things, it all keeps them occupied. It doesn’t have to be kids – you can make crafts too. Make yourself a whole princess costume out of paper. I dare you. (We want pictures if you do this. Lots of pictures.)
18: Emergency Roach & Filters. I once saw a guy rip up and roll a playing card because he was so desperate for a smoke and only had tobacco. I am definitely not suggesting that this is a safe alternative for real papers and filters – only suggesting that you could. And it would be so much better than a playing card.
19: Wrist Bands. Ever envied the little paper wrist band you get in hospitals, cheap clubs and gigs? Now you can make some of your own!
20: Paper Money. Just because you don’t have any real cash doesn’t mean you can’t carry around a wallet full of notes. And they can be as fancy and as valuable as you want. It can also help to teach children about currency and make a fun addition to their games.
21: Big Scrap Book. A hole-punch and some string is all it would take to turn a small pile of our paper into an awesome scrap book. Cut out some cardboard for a front and back cover and you’ve got the hottest new scrap book in town. Kids will love this one. Let them put in pictures, drawings, bits of leaf and whatever else it is kids come home with.
22: Paper Towels. Why buy those pre-cut softened paper towels like a wimp when you could just cut up a load of this paper. Same job.
23: Maps. Draw a big treasure map, roll it up. Spill some coffee on it. Squash it a bit. Rub some dirt on it. Leave it somewhere for your most gullible friend to find. Enjoy. Could work for kids too – teach them to read a map and make your Easter-Egg hunts a little easier and more logical.
24: Banners. What event doesn’t need a giant, felt-tip-drawn banner? None. Every event needs this, so just go ahead and make them.
25: Coffee Filters. Run out of coffee filters? That’s fine – this paper is food safe and resistant to a certain amount of heat and moisture. Probably best to use it quickly and just the once though.
26: Packaging. Sticking something potentially fragile in a box? Yeah – you could buy bubble-wrap, or you could just stick loads of paper in the box and wrap the fragile item in paper. And pad it in place with paper. And wrap the box in paper. I know which I’d do.
There you have it – 26 different and exciting things you can do with a bit of white news chip wrapping paper. Definitely not for just wrapping chips.
