As a Pearista, I received the Monster Bash decorations shown below at no charge, for use in my project.  Also, if you buy through my links, it benefits me.  Regardless, all opinions expressed here are entirely my own and I only recommend products if/because I genuinely like them.

Norwex products are wonderful for cleaning.  Because they so highly reduce the need for cleaning chemicals, they’re an eco-friendly, health-friendly, and pocketbook-friendly option.  But they may seem to be a little boring as gifts.  The solution?  Jazz them up!

Here are some ideas for some fun and/or attractive presentations that can make your gift of cleaning cloths a lot more interesting.

1. Make Flowers

Last year I posted a tutorial about turning your travel cloths into roses for a pretty presentation.

(Used: 1 pkg. travel cloths.  You could also do this with a package of baby cloths.)

2. Fancy Folds

Standard Envirocloths are approximately the same size and shape as dinner napkins.  That means that you can use fancy napkin folds to make your cloths look more interested.  Try this Christmas tree-folding tutorial with a green Envirocloth for a fun Christmas presentation.  (Here’s another tutorial, in case you need someone to talk you through it.)

(Used: 1 green Envirocloth)

3. Roll it Up

Of course you could just stick it in a box, wrap the box, and call it a day.  But if you’re looking for a more traditional — yet slightly more interesting presentation — try rolling the cloths up.  You can either tie them with a ribbon and present the package as-is.  Or you can tuck the rolled inside a mailing tube (or not) and wrap it “Christmas cracker”-style.

(Used: Any of the flat cloths.)

4. Pack it in a Mint Tin

This makes for a really cute presentation — and these make great stocking stuffers!  (Yes, you might be surprised.  My girls love their travel-sized “Norwex cloths,” and are thrilled to have their own to keep in their purses.)  Just one travel pack and a few packages of dollar store mints, and you’ll have the makings of four little gifts. The tins can be simply spray-painted a single color, or you can decorate them however you like.

These also make great hostess gifts!

To get the cloth neatly folded to fit, first fold it in half.  (Actually, it comes folded in half, so just don’t unfold it.)

Then fold it into thirds:

And in it goes!

A baby cloth will work, too, but it takes a bit of “stuffing,” and doesn’t look quite as neat and pretty.  They’re a little bigger, so for a baby cloth you’ll need to fold it in thirds and then in thirds.

A makeup removal cloth would also work well, I think, but I’ve misplaced mine so I couldn’t test that.

(Used: 1 mint tin + 1 travel Envirocloth.  OR substitute 1 baby cloth or 1 makeup removal cloth for the Envirocloth.)

5. Make a Cake

You’ve seen diaper cakes, and possibly towel cakes — why not a Norwex cake?  This could be done with any of the flat cloths (or towels); I used a couple of the kitchen cloths and kitchen towels (in the new Buttercream color — that seems appropriate, don’t you think?).  There’s also the option of adding a package of travel Envirocloths to mix in a bit of color.

I used two kitchen towels for the bottom tier and two kitchen cloths for the top.  Of course, you could use more if you wanted a larger cake.  Here’s what I did:

Take the first kitchen towel and fold it in half lengthwise:

(I folded the tag to the inside.)  Then fold it in half again, still lengthwise.

You should have a long, narrow strip.  Now begin rolling it up.  (Don’t roll too tightly, as it pulls funny when you do that.  It will shift a little.  Just hold it in place with your fingers as best you can and keep rolling.  It will be okay.)

When you near the end, add the second kitchen towel, folded the same way, and continue rolling.

Until you’ve rolled all the way to the end.

Now you need to secure the ends somehow. You can carefully pin it.  Use large paperclips at the top and the bottom.  I couldn’t find my regular paper clips and didn’t need this to last beyond taking pictures, so I used binder clips, but they’re not a very pretty option.

You can also use a piece of masking tape.  But don’t use other tape, as it might leave a sticky residue on your cloths.

To stack the two tiers, a (clean!) popsicle stick is a good option.  Stick it through the centers of both rolls so it holds the one atop the other.

Now you can decorate this any way you like.

If you want to incorporate some color using other Norwex products, you can add a few travel cloths when you’re rolling your bottom tier.  Fold each cloth in half from corner to corner (to form a triangle), then sort of “roll” it up along the now-folded edge.

Roll up the first towel of your bottom tier.  (This is going to be mostly underneath the top tier, so you don’t want stuff sticking out here.)  Once you’ve begun rolling the second towel, you can add one of these little cloths every few inches.

It’s a little lumpy when you’re done, but a bit more interesting.

(Used: 1 popsicle stick, masking tape, 2 kitchen towels, 2 kitchen cloths [OR 2 kitchen sets, which is the same 4 cloths], opt. travel pack)

6. Make it Monstrous

These are actually kids’ party decorations from Pear Tree Greetings, but when I saw them I immediately thought of the Norwex kids’ cloths!  The colors coordinate beautifully, and of course the theme is fun!  So I ordered them with phrases like “Cleaning Monster” and “Monstrously Clean” in the text areas and experimented with some options for using them to package the kids’ products.

One really easy option is to simply fold and stack your cloths, then punch holes in the decorations you want to use, and tie them on.  This works well whether you have just the Envirocloth and window cloth, or whether you’re adding the dusting mitt, too.  You can stack several of the decorative circles for more interest.

If you’re just doing the flat cloths (no mitt), you can roll them up in one of the largest circles.

(If you do have a dusting mitt, maybe you could roll these up like this, then tuck this inside the mitt?)

(Used: Kids’ Envirocloth, Kids’ window cloth, opt. Kids’ dusting mitt; “Monster Bash” kids’ party decorations from Pear Tree Greetings )

7. Can Them

Okay, maybe don’t process them in a hot water bath.  But you can roll them up to fit in a canning jar.

To fit a quart canning jar, height-wise, the cloth will need to be folded roughly in thirds.

Then you just roll it up and pop it in!  Except…there’s more space in a jar than that.  It’s a little loose.  You could roll it around something (like a toilet paper roll) and then even have the option to fill the middle.  (Candy, anyone?)  That would make for a fun surprise!  Or you can fit two standard envirocloths if you roll them tightly.  See?

(You don’t have to do two different colors; I just did that so you could see the two.)

A single kitchen towel will also fit.  If you have other cloths in mind you’ll have to experiment on your own.  (I’d love to hear if you do try a different cloth!)

You can get creative with this, too, using different containers and, if necessary, adapting the container size to the cloths or the other way around.  Can you fit a cloth into a cookie-style tin if you fold it to a very narrow strip first?  Can you roll up baby cloths and tuck them inside a baby bottle?  If two Envirocloths fit in a quart-size canning jar, chances are a single Envirocloth will fit in a pint.  Maybe cruise the dollar store and see if an interesting container catches your eye.

(Used: 1 canning jar, 2 Envirocloths; OR substitute a kitchen towel for the Envirocloths)

Bonus Idea 1: Another Option for Presenting Cloths?

I didn’t have a chance to try this option, but could you package a set of cloths in a 4-pack drink holder?  Roll one cloth per section?  (This blog post has a great tutorial for covering one decoratively.  Here’s a template for one, albeit a slightly odd one.)

Bonus Idea 2: Beautifying Straws for Giving

In Origami Spectacular, there’s a very simple pattern for folding a “Hashi (Chopstick) Holder.” This would also be perfect for “wrapping” our new stainless steel straws.  The Hashi wrapper is meant to be folded “inside out,” so the pattern just peeks out of the inside and the outside is blank, but I would personally reverse this for straw-prettifying purposes.

(Used: 1 sheet of origami paper, 1 package stainless steel straws)
Need Norwex cloths?  Get them here.

More Pictures!

To give you a few more size/orientation options for sharing. 🙂