Five Second Holiday Pillow - The Modest Cottage

Difficulty: Beginner

Five second pillow, how is that possible you ask? I have a trick that is so simple a kid could do it. After I tell you what it is you’ll be kicking yourself for not thinking of it.

Gone Shopping

How did this come about? Well last year on the day after Christmas I was at Target shopping the clearance Christmas items. If I do any shopping on the day after Christmas the only place I go is Target. The decorations at Target are pretty affordable at regular price, so they are a steal when on clearance.

I was looking through the decorations, ornaments and gift wrap, just to see if there was anything that I liked enough to buy. At this point the items have been picked over since they have been out since Nov.1, so just because something is on clearance doesn’t mean I’m going to buy it. It has to be something that I like and works with my decorations at home.

During this shopping trip I bought one giant roll of wrapping paper, four ornaments for my kids and two burlap, drawstring gift bags. I didn’t buy a lot of stuff, just things that I knew for sure I would use this year at Christmas.

Fast forward to this year at Christmas and I came upon my purchases as I was pulling out my decorations. I pulled the gift bags out with the decorations, because I thought there might be a way to use them in my decorating.

Make a Pillow

Looking at the bags I thought what if I stuff one and turn it into a pillow? I didn’t have any fiber fill stuffing at home, so that meant a trip to the craft store to pick up some stuffing. I was feeling lazy and didn’t want to run out to buy stuffing, but maybe there was another way to make a pillow.

My light bulb moment: take a throw pillow from the couch and put it inside the bag. Boom! Mind blown. Insanely easy and literally takes seconds.

My pillow worked perfectly because the gift bag was rectangular shaped and the pillow I covered was also a rectangle. I got lucky that my pillow fit the bag. If you are shopping for a gift bag take your pillow measurements ahead of time try to find a gift bag with slightly bigger measurements. Most gift bags will list the measurements on the packaging.

If you don’t have a throw pillow to cover you can buy a pillow form at a craft store. Think outside the box. A bed pillow could be used instead of a throw pillow if it fits better in the gift bag. A Folded up towel or blanket is another option. The point is trying to use something you already have on hand, so that you just need the gift bag.

Most stores that sell gift wrap will also sell fabric gift bags. I have seen them at Target, Joann Fabrics, Michael’s, Wal-mart and Amazon. I have also sold fabric gift bags at craft shows, so you may be able to find them at your local craft shows.