Six brown wrapping paper hacks

Brown paper is so cheap (except when you go to Sainsbury's and they mark it up MORE than the jazzy stuff - unbelievable - DO YOU THINK WE WERE BORN YESTERDAY J.SAINSBURY?) But buy it form Amazon or Staples and it is cheap and you can do funky stuff with it to make it all cool and Christmassy and a little bit stylish. Six ideas here:

1. SANTA BEARD

Download this beard template cut out of thick paper and elastic round your gift. Voila. We just came back from Paris and it makes me want to call Father Christmas 'Père Noël' because that is THE most adorable name ever. Also must get a photo of Jude crying on some FC's lap soon enough. It's a first-Christmas obligation.

2. BEAR

Oh my days when I saw this I was pretty much sold on the idea of wrapping all my gifts like this, not just the kids'. Jude actually won't be getting any presents from us this years as he won't even understand it and it's a bit pointless. Is that mean and stingy??? Anyway - LOOK AT THOSE BEARS. Brown paper + white paper + sharpie. I did it for a few gifts so far and it is the easiest hack ever. Thanks Malin Jansson for the idea.

3. CAR + TREE

I just found these Christmas trees on Ebay. Win! Amazon also has some but they have questionable delivery times so check first. Here are some others and I hear Hobbycraft also have some up their sleeves. You could also draw the car directly on the gift like they have here. Cute no? Especially for the sprogs.

4. PHOTOS

Nothing beats a square photo. I don't know whether I have been addicted to instagram for too long but i'm pretty sure i've always been a fan of squares (and circles, i'm not cheating on you, I like you both in equal measures). The other shapes just aren't as cool. Anyway, print off some B&W photos cropped to square (obviously of the person receiving the gift - would be hilariously narcissistic to just decorate all your presents with photos of yourself) and string up with twine. Such, little expense and effort for something so damn stylish.

5. HORSEY

This one would take a little bit of effort to make these 'non edible cinnamon ornaments' - amazing tutorial here. I think it would look just as cool made from scraps of leather maybe mounted on cardboard. just hole punch through and tie with ribbon. Template here. Obvi i'm allergic to the colour red so i'd have a black ribbon I think. Does anyone else hate red?

6. FOLIAGE

Rinse the tree and the garden and you have pretty little gifts in no time. Sage, Olive branches and Eucalyptus all look cool too. If you're one of those 'wrapping in advance' / vaguely organised types this probably isn't your bag. I'm a Christmas eve wrapper, down to the wire.