Are you looking for 4 rule Christmas gift ideas? Want to make heartfelt, unique Christmas gifts that are useful and memorable for your family? The 4 Christmas gift rule might be the gift giving philosphy you need to implement in your house this holiday season.
We have a elegant and meaningful handmade Christmas gift tags that you can re-use year after year with the 4 Gift rule Christmas philosophy. Not familiar with the concept? Here’s how it works…
What is the 4 gift rule for Christmas?
The 4 gift rule was born of the minimalist movement and has gained traction with frugal families everywhere. The basic premise is gifting 4 quality items that fit into the following categories:
- Something They Want
- Something They Need
- Something to Wear
- Something to Read
The emphasis is quality gifts over quantity under the tree. It’s perfect for any family that feels the Christmas gifting overwhelm or budget pressures. It allows you to focus your families energy on the spirit of the Holidays and not profuse gifting.
With years of pandemic and now inflation crunching everyone’s budget…this movement is starting to really gain traction. Here are some 4 gift rule Christmas gift ideas to help you better understand how it might work in your household.
What are Some 4 Gift Rule Christmas Gift Ideas?
Something They Want
This can be a discretionary gift the individual or child chooses for themselves and is usually THE central, big gift they receive. Have your giftee make a short list of things they want and you can choose from an item from that list. This is where the bulk of your gift budget may go.
Something They Need
This can be something essential or needed by the individual or child like a school backpack or laptop computer. These need items should be essential to living, working or going to school.
Something To Wear
This category can include items like new flannel pajamas, shoes or a winter jacket. The focus is still on providing useful essentials for living…but concentrating funds on one quality item.
Something To Read
This gift could encompass a small collection of books or a series like The Hunger Games or Harry Potter. You could also give a 1 year Kindle Unlimited Subscription if you have a serious reader in your household. It could also be a magazine subscription or a group of books from your giftees favorite reading category.
These re-usable, 4 Gift Rule Christmas Gift Tags exemplify the spirit of meaningful gifting. They define the parameters for gifting and keep your family from going overboard during the holiday season. You can make a set for each family member Let’s check them out!
Do I need a Cricut Cutting Machine?
Technically this is a Cricut Christmas craft but if you don’t have a Cricut there is a way you can still make these acrylic Christmas gift tags. Here’s how you can do it…
Simply take our FREE 4 gift rule SVG or PNG and print it onto clear sticker paper. From there you would cut out each individual gift tag label and affix it to clear acrylic gift tags individually. Remove as much excess sticker paper as possible with scissors before affixing each label.
How to Make 4 Gift Rule Christmas Gift Tags
DIY Acrylic Gift Tag Supplies
We give you the complete step by step tutorial for how to make these DIY 4 gift rule Christmas gift tags. We’re also providing you with FREE printable templates (if you don’t have a Cricut) & SVG files (if you do have a Cricut) to make these personalized gift tags. We’re also including transparent PNG files for Silhouette users. This is a super easy Cricut Christmas craft…probably one of the easiest on our website!
Materials:
Pre-made Clear Acrylic Gift Tags With Holes
Gold Permanent Adhesive Vinyl (or color of your choice)
Ruler
Our FREE 4 Gift Rule SVG (download at the bottom of the page)
How to Make 4 Gift Rule Christmas Gift Tags Step by Step
STEP 1: Upload Our FREE 4 Gift Rule SVG to Cricut Design Space
Download our FREE 4 Gift Rule SVG (download link is located at the bottom of this web page).
Head to the Cricut Design Space App and click “new project”. Upload our FREE Cricut SVG to your design space library using the upload button. After uploading, click on the SVG file in the recent uploads area and click “add to canvas”
Re-size the SVG in the software to fit the Pre-made Clear Acrylic Gift Tags you purchased for this project.
Hit the “Make it” button in Cricut design space. Make sure everything looks correct on the preview screen. This preview shows the area that will be cut from the vinyl and the exact location on the mat where the cut will take place.
Our 4 gift rule SVG is divided into 4 potential cuts so you can use 4 different colors on four different cuts with the machine. If you just want one cut out of one material/color you may want to use the PNG file we’ve provided to safe yourself some time. If you’re happy hit “continue”.
STEP 2: Load Mat and Cut
If you don’t already have the fine-point Cricut blade loaded in your machine you can do that now. Select the appropriate material which should be washi tape (I use this for delicate cuts like this).
STEP 3: Place Vinyl on Cutting Mat & Load
Place a sheet of Gold Permanent Adhesive Vinyl onto the Green Standard Grip Mat. Gently work out any air pockets or bubbles with your Cricut Scraping Tool.
Place the mat loaded with the Gold Permanent Adhesive Vinyl into the machine touching the rollers. Hit the double arrow button on the machine to load the mat into the machine. Hit go in Cricut design space to start cutting the vinyl.
STEP 4: Peel & Weed Away Unwanted Vinyl Area
Slowly weed away the Gold Permanent Adhesive Vinyl with your Cricut Weeding Tool. Pull away any remaining negative (unwanted) bits of gold vinyl with the hook until you have the final product you want to go on to your Pre-made Clear Acrylic Gift Tags.
STEP 5: Transfer Cut Design to Transfer Paper
Next we’ll transfer the lettered design onto the Pre-made Clear Acrylic Gift Tags. To do this we’ll cut a piece of clear Transfer Tape the same size as the design we just cut on the Cricut machine.
Start by peeling a small amount of the adhesive backing off of the Transfer Tape and placing the exposed Transfer Tape over top portion of the cut design.
We are going to slowly add the Transfer Tape to the design while working out any air pockets or bubbles with the Cricut Scraping Tool. Do this until the transfer tape has been completely applied. This simple step can save some later headaches down the road on this project.
Next, turn the entire design facing downwards and begin gently pulling the black vinyl’s adhesive backing away from the transfer paper to expose the lettered design. Start at one corner and slowly roll it away.
STEP 6: Place Cut Vinyl On Acrylic Gift Tags
Now that the vinyl is loaded onto the Transfer Tape you can clearly see and position the cut lettering onto the sign blank. Use a ruler to do some measurements so that it is equally spaced from the edges of the Pre-made Clear Acrylic Gift Tags.
When you have the lettering where you want it use the Cricut Scraping Tool and run it back and forth across the transfer tape (using light pressure) to adhere the letters to the Pre-made Clear Acrylic Gift Tags and remove air pockets or bubbles.
When complete, slowly & carefully remove the transfer paper by starting at a corner and slowly rolling the transfer tape off the Pre-made Clear Acrylic Gift Tags. Some letters on this SVG design are small. Be careful when removing and use your scraper or weeding tool to hold down the vinyl as your remove the transfer tape.
STEP 7: Create a Bow and Tie to Christmas Gifts
Loop your 4 gift rule tags onto your gifts and finish with a bow. You’ll have reusable gift tags that you can use for years to come!
I hope you enjoyed learning how to make our 4 Gift Rule Christmas gift tags! Now that you know how to make reusable gift tags, you can make them for any special occasion that requires a thoughtful gift.
Our FREE Cricut SVG for this project (and transparent PNG for other cutting machines) can be downloaded at the bottom of this page.
If you love Easy Christmas crafts and DIYs as much as we do you might want to check out some of our other tutorials like:
Save this DIY Acrylic Gift Tutorial to Pinterest for Later!
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