Christmas season is filled with many fun, elegant, exciting decorations. Bows are classic, beautiful, inexpensive, and, you can do them yourself! Christmas bows are used to decorate trees, for gift wrapping, as ornaments, etc. What do you need? Ribbon and lots of imagination (well, and a bit of patience at the beginning).

First things first: get the material.

• If you are using your bow as a decorative piece for your tree or house, consider getting a wired ribbon. This will enable you to give it a proper shape. It will make your bow look fuller.
• Nothing more frustrating than when ribbons twist. To avoid this, buy a double-sided ribbon. You will make sure the right side is always facing up.
• Sharp scissors are vital. No matter how many tutorials you watch, or how many times you read this article, without adequately sharp scissors, you will get nowhere. Dull scissors fray ribbons and make the cutting extra complicated –especially if you layer the material. Our recommendation is to use fabric scissors.

How to make the classic bow

• A traditional bow is the one you see in every Christmas picture. It is easy to make, and you can use regular or wired material.

· Directions

• Step 1: Create three loops with your ribbon. Two that face upwards and one middle loop that faces downwards.
• Step 2: Cross the right loop over the left loop so that the side with the tail hanging down faces out.
• Step 3: Fold the right loop down through the center loop.
• Step 4: Arrange your bow and enjoy

How to Make a Gift Bow

• If you are wrapping a gift, and you want it to pop, stay away from the ordinary store-bought bows. Pick a ribbon with an unusual pattern, shiny colors, and your gift will definitely stand out. Don’t be stingy with the size, the more voluminous, the better.
• One-sided ribbon is beautiful for this type of bow. You can use non-wired or wired ribbon, though wired ribbon gives the bow a better shape. Since you’ll be cutting through multiple layers of ribbon, you’ll need sharp scissors, like fabric scissors, to create this bow. The gift bow uses a lot of ribbon (we used nearly 5.5 feet in our 4.5 inch wide bow), so if you plan on making multiple gift bows, be sure to stock up on ribbon.

· Directions

• Step 1: Measure how wide you want the bow, keeping the ribbon attached to the spool if you’re unsure how many layers you want.
• Step 2: Fold that length inwards. Continue folding until you have the desired number of loops (one fold equals one loop). Once complete, cut the end of the ribbon. You’ll now have one big ring.
• Step 3: Take the two ends of that ring and put them together so that they (and the loose end of the ribbon) are at the top center.
• Step 4: Cut notches at the center of the ribbon. You should cut on the left and right sides about one-third of the way in on each side.
• Step 5: Thread the floral wire through the cuts and twist it tightly to secure.
• Step 6: Pull and turn each loop to fill out your bow.