Plastic Grocery Bag Garland

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Make Adorable Garland from plastic bags you get at the grocery stores.

Are you like me and have a ton of plastic grocery bags at your house? I do send mine to the recycling department each week and use them for trash collection around the house, but this fun plastic bag craft is perfect for some cute decorating on a budget! And you know I love cheap and simple decor. 😍

 

I was wanting something kind of neutral and cozy to add to the living room fireplace for our spring mantel and thought a fresh new garland would do the trick. I am a sucker for a good garland. I love to use what I have on hand, not sure if I am super budget-conscious or just don’t like to run out and shop when the decorating mood hits me. Maybe both, LOL!

I also think this garland could be used outside. If it gets wet and droopy, let it dry then fluff it back up. So fun for porch decorating. 

Anyway – I have a ton of these plastic shopping bags tucked away and they make the perfect material for a cute garland. I’ll show you how to make your own. 

How to Make Garland From a Plastic Grocery Bag

1. Collect a bunch of plastic grocery bags in the color scheme you love. I used somewhere from 8 to 10 bags for this garland I think – I lost track because I made it over two days and my memory is awful. 🤔 There are a lot of fun colors out there if you shop at lots of different places!
2. Lay them out nice and meat, tuck the pleasted sides in and get them flat. 
3. Stack the bags. 
4. Cut the bottoms and tops off the bags so you are left with a square (or rectangle). 
5. Cut the bags into approximately 1 inch strips. No need to measure exactly, there is zero perfection needed in this craft!
6. You can use just the solid color pieces or use the ones with colored words and colored logos on them as well, your choice! I use all the pieces in mine.
7. Cut a long piece of string or twine as your base. Determine how long you want your garland to be and use this as a guide. 
8. I stacked 3 pieces of like colors and tied them in a loose knot around the twine. 
9. I alternated colors, brown and white, until my garland was full. I didn’t pushed the tied pieces super close together, but spread them out a bit. It is up to you how full you want your garland to be. Push them together and add more if you like! 
10. Once you get the garland the correct length, you might want to trim your garland so all the pieces are the same lenght.
11. Leave room on each end to hang your garland and start decorating. 

See how easy that plastic bag craft was. And it cost you NOTHING I bet! Now you will be looking at plastic shopping bags differently and collecting all the colors to make different garlands for holidays and everyday. Have a blast shopping and crafting.