As we are nearing the end of another long heating season – you probably have a pile of empty wood pellet bags stacked high. Are you wondering what to do with them? We have heard that question a lot lately. Depending on your location, your town may accept the bags to recycle.

>> See our blog, 20 Ways to Re-use Empty Wood Pellet Bags 

We have a new idea to make some use of all those bags, just in time for springtime and Easter parties: DIY Party Goody Bags! Make personalized candy bags ahead of time for guests, or make blank bags to let kids design their own!

This is an easy craft and a way to make some use of those empty pellet bags. Please be sure this activity is done under adult supervision at all times.

 What you’ll need:

• Empty, clean wood pellet bags
• Scissors
• Tape
• Decorating Items (ribbon, gems, fancy tape, markers, glitter, colored card stock etc.)
• Goodies!

Depending on the ages of your crafters, it’s probably the safest for you to do the bag construction ahead of time. This way you can leave more time for the fun decorating part, and less time worrying about sharp scissors in small hands. Remember…safety first!

If you want to cut out shapes ahead of time, click here for a free printable sheet of shape templates.

1. The kind of empty wood pellet bag you have doesn’t matter. As long as either the top end or the bottom end hasn’t been cut or damaged, any bag will do! You just need one end to be still intact. Cut the bag in half vertically, making two long pieces.

2. Cut horizontally across both pieces to make the same size baggies. It’s up to you how deep you want them to be – so cut where you want. If you have them – use scalloped or zig zag scissors for some extra fun!

3. Flip the bag inside out, and clean off any leftover pellet residue. It’s not harmful – but you don’t want it getting all over the place. Luckily, we had a Cleanfire Douglas Fir bag to work with…so the pellet dust was minimal!

4. Choose the side you want as the back. In our example, the back of our bag is white, which is perfect for a blank canvas. Flip the side you chose to be the back up to face you. Fold the long open side (where you cut vertically) inward as if you were gift wrapping a box. Make sure to pull in the folds in enough to make the baggie narrow enough. No baggy masks or hats!

5. Instead of plain tape, we used decorative washi tape to add in some extra color, and trimmed the top of the bag. This gives the edge a nice finish. Repeat these steps for the other bag, and start over with each empty pellet bag. 

Within minutes, you have a sturdy bag ready for personalization! Set out all the (safe) decorating materials with your blank goody bags and get ready for some creativity!

Please share your empty bag ideas with us!