2-in-1 Hostess Gifts Using a Tea Towel for Wrapping

With Thanksgiving only a week away, it had me thinking, “What can I give my Aunt Bonnie for hosting?” When gift giving, I truly believe “It’s the thought that counts.” So the gift doesn’t have to be extravagant, just thoughtful. Therefore, if giving a bottle of wine, I dress it up in a cute bag. If bringing flowers, I provide a cute vase. Simple and small gestures to suggest I did more than just stop at the grocery store on my way to her house. And that’s exactly what these 2-in-1 Hostess Gifts Using a Tea Towel for Wrapping accomplish. They are all simple ideas, but they feel special because of the clever wrapping. And honestly, they are so easy to do that you could still stop at the store on your way to your destination. Then wrap it in the car. Remember, it’s the thought that counts!

I cannot stress enough how easy these ideas are to accomplish. I mean, I just said you could even wrap them in the car. So get ready to see how simple it is to use a tea towel to wrap wine, a set of two bottles (like olive oil and balsamic vinegar), and even a pie. I mean it is Thanksgiving and what’s Thanksgiving without pie? And of course, the tea towel is part of the gift too; hence, why they are all 2-in-1 gift ideas!

First, The Difference Between a Tea Towel and Kitchen Towel

Size and material! Size and material are the main differences between a tea towel and kitchen towel. Tea towels are typically a larger, square piece of light-weight cotton fabric (like 30″ x 30″). Kitchen towels are typically a rectangle and while they vary in size they are usually around 18″ x 28″. Kitchen towel weights vary but they are usually always thicker than tea towels.

Why do you need to know this? Because while the wine bottle and double bottle wraps can be done with either a tea towel or a lighter-weight kitchen towel (stress “light-weight”), the pie wrap really needs the larger square of a tea towel. Just keep that in mind when buying the towel.

How to Wrap a Bottle of Wine Using a Tea Towel

First up, a bottle of wine. Wine is a staple hostess gift so this idea seemed like a no-brainer. There are multiple ways to use a tea towel to wrap a wine bottle, but I found this idea to be the simplest and cleanest idea. You could also use a light-weight kitchen towel.

Materials

• Bottle of wine
• Tea towel or light-weight kitchen towel
• Ribbon or twine

Instructions

1. Fold the tea towel in half and lay it flat on a table with the fold closest to you. If your tea towel has a print, make sure the design that is face-up on the table is upside down (see the 2nd picture in the picture collage above). This will allow the print to be running in the correct direction once you’re done.
2. Put your bottle inside the fold of your tea towel. Place the bottle at one end of the towel. Then roll the bottle with it between the two layers of the towel.
3. Tie a ribbon around the neck of the bottle.
4. Optional, attach a gift tag. Here I used one of my FREE print-it-yourself Oh So Thankful Gift Tags. I love how it just happened to match the design of my tea towel.

How to Wrap Two Bottles Using a Tea Towel

I love this one because it can accommodate any combination of bottles you want to wrap. Just make sure the height of your bottles aren’t larger than the height of a wine bottle. Plus, make sure the two bottles are identical in size and shape. Here I picked two dipping oils from World Market. Other ideas could be a nice bottle of hand soap and lotion; a good olive oil and balsamic vinegar; two larger bottles of craft beer; two tea tins; two pillar candles; two bottles of wine (if the towel is big enough); two bottles of whipped cream to go with that pie… okay, you get the idea!

Materials

• Two bottles (here I used two dipping oils from World Market)
• Tea towel or light-weight kitchen towel
• Ribbon or twine

Instructions

1. Lay tea towel flat on a table. If your tea towel has a print, make sure the print is face down on the table.
2. Stand your two bottles up in the middle of your tea towel close to one edge. Lay them down on the tea towel parallel to the edge, leaving the gap in the middle where they were standing. This will allow your bottles to stand back up once you wrap them in the tea towel.
3. Roll the tea towel around your two bottles making sure to keep that gap in the middle.
4. Fold your bottles together and tie closed. You can tie above the bottles or around the necks of your bottles, whatever works best.
5. Optional, attach a gift tag. Here I used one of my FREE print-it-yourself Oh So Thankful Gift Tags.

How to Wrap a Pie Using a Tea Towel

Maybe you were assigned to bring pie? If so, this would be a fun way to bring it. I used an 8″ pie but you can do larger pies. I also used a plastic throwaway container with a lid, but you could, of course, do a real pie pan.  This same concept would even work for a small box or cookbook. Use your imagination.

Materials

• A pie
• Tea towel

Instructions

1. Lay tea towel flat on a table. If your tea towel has a print, make sure the print is face down on the table.
2. Take the two catty-corner corners and tie a knot in the middle of the pie. Tuck the loose ends down and even around the pie if there is enough fabric.
3. Then tie the two remaining corners in a double knot in the middle above the first knot. Smooth out the fabric so it lies nicely around your pie.
4. Optional, add a gift tag. Again, I used one of my FREE print-it-yourself Oh So Thankful Gift Tags.

I hope you’ve found these ideas helpful! If you do one of them, I would love to see your results. Please share on Instagram and tag me (@tonalitydesigns). I truly love seeing what you guys create.

And don’t forget to download the FREE Oh So Thankful Gift Tags as well. I love providing these PDFs as my own little thank you to all of you for following me and my Tonality Designs adventure.