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Have you ever had a really large gift to give that doesn’t really wrap well? Maybe it’s a piece of furniture or even a new car or anything else that wrapping paper just isn’t going to work for. Or maybe it’s just a really big box and any store-bought bows or whatnot would look tiny and a bit ridiculous?
Now I’m going to be straight with you… when it comes to things and dimensions I am one of those people who just doesn’t get it. If I want to buy furniture or a rug or even wall art I take the dimensions and I create a piece of cardboard that exact same size. A real visible presentation is the ONLY way I can make any kind of good decision because what I think something will look like never equals the reality.
And so when I saw a mega gift bow at Target that is 12″ wide I got really excited and ordered it. And when that Target cardboard box appeared on my doorstep I was even more excited. It was HUGE! But it was one of those times where somebody your order in a ridiculously too big box. Don’t get me wrong. It was a bigger than average bow, but what it turned out I wanted was a 24″ bow. Luckily I’m just crafty enough to make one myself!
To Make a bow a giant paper gift bow you will need:
About the Gift Wrap You Choose
Because these giant bows are, you know, giant, you need a good quality (thicker) wrapping paper. Super cheap and thin paper is just a nightmare because it is floppy and the paper easily crumples under the next layer of the bow. Honestly, it’s just a mess. I purchased really good quality paper from Hobby Lobby for $4 a roll and Target for $5 and you can make 2-4 giant bows from those rolls so that’s still a great deal!
You want to buy a paper that has the grid on the backside. You can use that grid to help cut the perfect sized strips for your bow. It’s such a time saver. I literally counted out the squares to on the back of my paper and I didn’t even need to bust out a yardstick.
You can purchase paper with a plain, white backside but you’ll need to measure and draw out the cut lines and who has time for that?
Cutting Your Paper Strips for a Giant Bow
The bow in this tutorial was made with 4″ strips and measures about 24″ across. I also made bow with 6″ strips that is a whopping 34″ across I hope to photograph soon! Like, it’s almost as wide as my dining room table!
No matter what size your bow is, you’ll need 3 strips of paper for each round of the bow. The length of those strips will vary depending on the width of paper. Below I’m sharing the size you need if creating a 24″ wide bow OR the math you need to make a bow from any other width.
- 46″ x 4″ Strips OR width multiplied by 11.5 – quantity 3
- 42″ x 4″ Strips OR width multiplied by 10.5 – quantity 3
- 38″ x 4″ Strips OR width multiplied by 9.5 – quantity 3
- 34 x 4″ Strips OR width multiplied by 8.5 – quantity 3
- 20″ x 4″ Strip OR 20″ x width – quantity 1
Bows using strips over 6″ will need 1 or 2 extra rounds/layers of the bow to be properly filled out. Just subtract the width from the length to make shorter strips for additional rounds. So, for example, if I needed another round for my 4″ wide strip bow, with the shortest being 34″ the next layer would need 30″ strips and after that 26″, then 22″ and so on…
How to Make a Giant Paper Gift Bow
I made a total of 3 giant paper gift bows and I definitely came up with a system. By using an inexpensive single hole punch you can grab for around $2 at craft or big box stores, you’ll be able to line up each strip to be EXACTLY the same size. This is important for a nice, symmetrically round shape.
How to Prepare Your Strips for Folding
We will start the bottom-most round of the bow using the longest strips cut.
Take one of the longest strips of paper and fold longways by matching up the shortest ends. On the open end of the long strip (not the folded end) place a hole punch right in the center of the strip, pushing the punch onto the paper as far as it will go (this will help keep your holes consistently placed).
*Note – If your paper is gridded on the inside use those guides to help center your hole punch.
Mark the fold on the un-patterned side of the paper.
How to Fold Your Paper Strips
Open the strip and lay flat on a work surface with the patterned side of the paper facing down. Take the top edge of the strip and begin folding toward the center mark of the strip. Note * as you fold it will look like a 90° angle. If it looks like the image above, you’re doing it right!
As the edge meets with the center you will start to see the pointy edge of a paper bow! Finagle the paper so that the point is nice and sharp. Line up the hole punched in the paper with the hole marked in the center. Tape in place.
Turn the strip around on your work surface. Repeat folding the top edge to the center. Match up the second end so that the strips line up to form a straight line like the guide lines in the image above show. Align the first and second punched holes to match up. Tape into place.
Repeat with each strip of the same size.
Assembling Your Giant Paper Gift Bow
Place your first bow loops on your work surface, overlapping them and fanning the points until the shape is symmetrical. Tape into place.
Continue folding strips as you did with the outermost round. Once all 3 strips from a round are folded, place them inside of the previous round and finagle so that the points are centered between the points of the previous round. Tape into place.
For a nice, full bow using 4″ strips you will need 4 rounds to fill it out nicely. If your bow is larger, keep making rounds until you have a small opening like above. Once you reach this point, cut a final strip of paper about 20″ long and the width of your strips.
Overlap the ends of the strip to form a ring. Gently place in the center and tighten or loosen the ring to fill up the space well. Tape the ring to the correct size, then tape inside of the bow to finish.
Tah-dah! That’s one big ass bow, if I do say so myself :) Look at how itty bitty my hand looks next to it!
Now this bow is definitely floppy and not super easy to move around. I’d suggest creating it on a piece of cardboard, or something stiff, then using that as a tray to slide it onto whatever you want to slide it onto. If it will be on top of something like a wrapped gift, you can build it right on top without any need to move it at all!
