Day 26: Gift Wrapping

Christmas is coming, I'm sure you are all at least starting to think about what to get your loved ones. But have you ever stopped to think about how much excess waste is generated around Christmas time? Especially for wrapping! Just to keep everyone from seeing their present before it's time. Every year I get a little more discouraged about that. It seems like Marilyn, from 4 You With Love, was on the same wavelength as me! She's here today to share with you some green ideas for your holiday wrapping.



Howdy everyone. I'm Marilyn, from 4 You With Love, and Gen has given me the opportunity to be a part of her wonderful Greener Sustainable series. Her series has been chock full of so many wonderful posts and ideas. I am just blown away by all the information that's been shared with everyone.

The holidays are right around the corner. Are you ready? If you've been planning, it's probably about the actual gifts you'll be creating for those special people in your life. Do you give much thought about how you will be wrapping your gifts? I give it some thought but not a lot. However, every year, after all our Christmas gifts have been opened, I am always shocked at how much gift wrap waste we have generated. Gen's series got me to thinking about how I could be "greener" with my gift wrapping this year.

I think a beautiful bow can really make your present something special. Here are some ways to create a bow from newspapers and magazines.

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Look at these package adornments. Can you tell what they are made from? Look closely. Yup, these are strips of produce mesh bags that add a splash of color to these packages.

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Have you ever made your own gift bags? How about this tutorial that shows how to make bags from newspapers!

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I know I have rushed out the day after Christmas to get that great deal on wrapping paper for the next year. Well, how about this great idea of decorating grocery sacks with date stamps to create your own gift wrap? I know what I will be doing with some of the grocery sacks in my closet!

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Here is a fun way to use those cans that have a flip top to "wrap" gifts. What a clever idea!

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For those people who sew, how about making gift totes that can be used year after year. Talk about reducing trash!

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Finally, how about decorating an ice cream tub and turning it into a great gift basket?

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Okay, I'm ready to reduce my holiday trash this year. How about you? Gen, thanks for your great series. It has really inspired me to take a closer look at how I can reduce my environmental impact!


Thanks so much Marilyn for sharing your finds with us! Now I have an idea of what I will do with that brown paper that is leftover from packing boxes I've received!

This reminded me of the toilet paper roll favors I did last year.


I want to add just a few other options for you to make and reuse year after year.

How about some reusable drawstring bags? You could make some of different sizes to fit all types of gifts. I know I'll be snooping the fabric store after Christmas for some cheap Christmassy fabric to make some for next year. Though I might also get some super cheap fabric (like dropcloths maybe?) and stencil them with Christmas patterns. Would be better (read: cheaper) for big boxes.

from Brown Thumb Mama

If you don't want to hassle of making it yourself, there are some Etsy stores and online websites that sells them.

EllaWrap has some really gorgeous bags, I'm really in love with this one! If I'd get anything in this bag, I might just like the bag better! What can I say, I like cute bags and boxes!

(35$ at ecowrap.com)

But that's still a bit too pricey for my taste. So here are a few I found on Etsy that are more reasonably priced. (Or go here for even more)

(SUZUYA on Etsy)

(debupcycles on Etsy)

(VZWraps on Etsy)

So how about it? Are you going to give the gift of green this year?! You could even give reusable bags or a gift made from repurposed items! This way you can introduce more people to green alternatives!

To find more ideas on ways to go green, check out the other posts in the series:




I party at these parties.