Bust Out Your Sharpies for Shrink Plastic Gift Tags

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and Sharpie, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #StaplesSharpie http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO.

Okay, I admit it… I may have a Sharpie “problem”.  A bit of an addiction, really.  But I was out shopping Staples last week and they have such awesome deals on this craft staple that I stocked up on some cool new colors! (Staple – see what I did there?  Teehee.)  But seriously – I use Sharpies for lots of my craft projects, I always have them on-hand.  This is my stash.

Today I’m going to show you how you can make long-lasting keepsake gift tags with Sharpies and shrink plastic.  They are great because you can re-use them year after year, or others (yep, I pretty much mean the grandparents) can hold onto a piece of your kids’ childhood in a space-saving, unbreakable way.

What you will need:

• Sharpie Markers
• Shrink Plastic – I recommend white shrink plastic for this project; you will be able to write names, years, and messages on the backside, too.
• Standard sized hole punch
• Ribbon or Twine

Shrink plastic is really reasonably priced (packs of 6 are usually $5 or less, depending where you shop).  You just have to take the “shrink” part of it into account and make your base shapes large enough – about 3x larger than what you want your final tag to be.  I traced around things like bowls and coffee cup lids, and let my daughter color them how she liked.  For older kids (and grown-ups) who can keep it inside the lines, you can pre-cut a few pieces of plastic.  A good sized tag is about 1/4 of a sheet of plastic.  You can cut it into traditional quarters, or cut it into 4 strips.  You can also cut around a drawing, if you have a real artist in your family, or cut other shapes!  Really there is a ton of room for creativity with this project.

In fact, we were having so much fun that my husband even wanted to make some special tags (ladies, don’t be jealous, he’s mine)!  Just drawing with Sharpies – it’s simple enough that we all wanted in on the fun.

When you (or your kids or husband) are done, just punch a hole somewhere in the plastic tag (a standard hole punch works fine), and bake it according to the package directions.  It varies by brand, but you can expect your tags to be done within 5 minutes.

When it cools, tie on a bit of twine, and you have a fun and personal addition to add to a gift!  You can re-use them year after year, or they can double as ornaments.  It’s a great idea for the grandparents’ gifts – not only is it a functional tag, but it’s also a little piece of art from the grandkids!

If you don’t happen to be stocked up on Sharpies – the sales at Staples are the perfect time to do it.  I picked up:

• 12-pack assorted Sharpies – $6.
• 4-pack assorted Metallics – $3.39.
• 5-pack NEONS (woot!) – $5.

Yes, I walked out with that stash for under $15!

If you share my love of Sharpies you may want to follow Sharpie on their social media – find them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest!  There are so many ideas for decorating, organizing, and crafting!