Fifty Uses for Brown Paper Bags

Most grocery stores only offer brown paper bags now. Most people take those bags home, and put the bag straight into the recycling after putting away their groceries. But, not so fast! Those paper bags can be used for much more than groceries. Here are 50 great alternative uses for brown paper bags:

1. Advent Calendar

Make your own Advent calendar with paper lunch bags. Label each bag with a day and decorate. Put a chocolate in each bag. Hang the bags and open one each day of Advent. This is especially handy if you live someplace like Alaska where the sun does not set for part of the year.

2. Blackout Curtains

If you or someone in your house works nights and needs a dark place to sleep during the day, cover the bedroom windows with brown paper bags.

3. Book Cover

Schools always require students to cover textbooks. Use a paper bag to cover the book and let your student decorate their own book cover. This is also a great way to preserve the value of your textbooks in case you want to resell them.

4. Building Blocks For Forts

Lay the bag flat on the floor or a low table. Fold the top over about 6 or 8 inches and crease the bag on the fold. Open the bag and fill it with scrunched up newspapers, putting in one sheet at a time. Fold the bag on the crease line and securely tape the bag closed.

5. Christmas Stockings

Cut your paper bag into the shape of a Christmas stocking (you will need 2 sides for each stocking). Punch holes into the edges of the stockings a use colored wool to sew your stocking. Decorate the stocking to make it more festive.

6. Cleaning Mops

Putting the mop head into a paper bag and giving it a little shake will remove all of the dirt and dust from the mop into a bag without spreading it everywhere again.

7. Coat Chicken

Put flour and spices in your paper bag. Add in raw chicken and shake to coat the chicken for frying.

8. Compost

Tear up the bag and put it in your compost heap with old coffee grounds and vegetable peels.

9. Costume

Cut a hole in the bottom big enough for your neck and holes on the sides for your arms. Cut a straight line down the back of the bag. Decorate it and wear it as a costume. This works great for small kids.

10. Cutlery Pouch

Decorate bags with a cutlery stamp. Fold the bottom of the bag up 1 1/2″. Fold the sides in until they meet and tape together. Roll fork, spoon and knife in a napkin and tuck into paper bag. This is great for picnics or putting your cutlery in storage.

11. Decorative Bowl

Use a paper bag to make a papier-mache bowl. This is also great for pinatas or other papier-mache type party items.

12. Drain Fried Foods

Place fried foods on after cooking to drain grease. This is great for foods like bacon or fried chicken.

13. Flooring

If you are really into sustainability, you might consider making flooring out of used paper bags. Google for instructions.

14. Flowers

Create your own flower creations by cutting out petals and painting.

15. Fly Paper

Cut paper bags into strips. Combine equal parts corn syrup and water in a sauce pan, and bring to a boil (one cup corn syrup and one cup water will make a lot of fly paper). Remove from heat. Submerge the strips in the sugar-water mixture, and allow them to sit long enough to become saturated. Remove the strips with tongs (they’ll be hot!), and place them on drying racks sitting overtop of cookie sheets. Allow to dry fully. Then, hang your fly paper wherever flies are a problem.

16. Gift Bag

Use chalkboard paint to paint a square on your bag. Write a message in chalk and fill the bag with gifts.

17. Kite

Punch a hole in each corner of the open end of a bag. Tie a long piece of string into each hole, tie the ends together and glue some streamers onto the open end. Decorate. The open shape of the bag will trap the wind and make a perfect kite!

18. Light a Fire

Use in the fireplace to help get a fire started.

19. Lunch Bags

Brown bagging it got its name from paper bags. Take your lunch to work in a paper bag.

20. Luminaries

Decorate the outside of the paper bag. Place LED lights inside the bag to create your own luminaries. Alternatively put some sand in the bottom and place a tea candle inside the bag. This works great for garden parties or for Halloween.

21. Make Popcorn

Put a handful of popcorn (about a 1/4 to 1/2 cup) in a paper bag, fold tightly two times to seal, and place the bag in the microwave standing up with the flat bottom of the bag down. Set the timer for 3 minutes, but stand by and stop the microwave when the popping has slowed. Add melted butter, salt, and any other seasonings you like, shake it up in the bag, and enjoy!

22. Masks

Cut eye holes and let the kids create their own masks. You can always paint or draw something fun on the outside of the bag to help the kids get into it.

23. Menus

Use small bags (small than a lunch bag). You can print the menu on the outside of the bag using your printer. Fill the bag with goodies (if you want) and fold over the top. Secure with a clothes pin.

24. Mini Scrapbook

Lay two or more bags together alternating ends. Fold the bags in half to create a spine. Sew a single line up the spine to keep the book intact. Decorate.

25. Mushroom keeper

Store mushrooms in the fridge in a paper bag. They will last much longer!

26. Onion keeper

Place onions inside and in bottom of fridge. Will keep from sprouting for two or three months.

27. Origami

Cut out and fold your paper bag into origami bird and animal forms.

28. Packing Materials

Shred and use as packing material when shipping. You can also ball the bags up if you need to add filler to the boxes when you are moving.

29. Party Loot Bags

Decorate the outside of the bag to match your party theme. Fill it out candy and other loot for your partygoers.

30. Pet Cage Liner

Lay a paper bag flat to line bird cage. Shred bags to line a hamster cage or add brown paper to the bottom. If you are a dog or cat owner you can add brown paper to the bottom of your dog bed or cat litter box to provide additional odor and pet waste protection.31.

31. Photo Gallery Templates

Cut your bag along a seam so that it lays flat, trace your frames on the paper and cut them out, then rearrange the rectangles with painter’s tape to visualize how the gallery will look.

32. Placemats

Cut the front and back panels off and let your children color on them while they wait for dinner to be served.

33. Protect Plants From Frostbite

If you live in a place that has extreme winters, these bags can be used to protect your plants from frost bite. Simply cover the plants with a paper bag and tie the handle tightly to the base of the pot every night. Remember to remove it in the morning.

34. Protect Windshield From Ice and Snow

Place a ripped paper bag beneath the wipers when you park the car. Just peel it off in the morning.

35. Puppet

Decorate the top and front of your bag to make a puppet. You can use wool for hair and either draw on the eyes or glue some craft eyes onto the bag. This works great for smaller paper bags.

36. Remove Wax From Table Cloth and Carpets

Place an opened brown bag on the problem area and move a warm iron over the spot-quickly. Greasy spots will appear on the bag. Move clean paper to the spot and continue until nothing appears.

37. Steering Wheel Cover

To keep your steering wheel touchable during hot summer months, cut a 10-inch strip from the back seam of a paper bag and slip it over the wheel.

38. Trash Can Liner

Use inside the trash can as a liner. You can dump the trash into dumpster and reuse. This is great especially if you separate your recycling and your trash.

39. Recycling

Fill it with newspaper or other recyclables. Don’t forget, brown paper bags themselves can be recycled.

40. Rehydrate Stale Bread or Rolls

Place bread or rolls in a paper bag, run the bag under a bit of water and place in a low oven. They will become moist in about 10 minutes.

41. Ripen Fruit

Ripen a peach, plum or green tomato by placing it in a paper bag.

42. Roast Asparagus

Place a pound of trimmed asparagus in a paper bag along with half of a sliced lemon and salt and pepper. Tightly fold the bag closed, place on a cookie sheet and drizzle a little bit of olive oil on the paper bag. Roast for 20 minutes at 350 F. Carefully open the bag (it will be hot!) and serve.

43. Table Cloth

Cut the bags and lay them flat to use as a table cloth when carving pumpkins. You put everything in the composter when done.

44. Vase

An empty drink bottle tucked inside a paper bag makes a great vase.

45. Wall Decor

Crumple bag up and use to paint walls for a unique finish. Crumpled bags can add additional texture or can be used to help store your brushes when they are cleaned up.

46. Make A Wallet

Check on Pinterest for instructions to make your own wallet from a paper bag. If you don’t have a wallet you can always throw your personal belongings in a bag until you do get a wallet.

47. Window Cleaning

Tear in strips and wipe windows with white vinegar for a streak free clean.

48. Wrap Gifts

Cut your paper bags into sheets. Decorate with metallic paints or stamps to create your own giftwrap. Christmas gifts wrapped in brown paper are perfectly acceptable. If you are doing this, be sure to that the logo on the bag is on the inside so the wrapping paper looks clean and neat.

49. Weed blocker

Lay it down anywhere you want to prevent weeds. Cut slits for plants to stick through.

50. Woven Basket

Yes Virginia, you can weave a basket out of brown paper bags. Pretty much what you need to do is fold up the brown paper, stitch the strips together, add a bit of glue and then weave the strips into a basket.

For more on this topic check out our postings on 50 ways to save money on food and 50 ways to reuse dryer sheets.