Green Gift Wrapping Guide: 15 Tips and Tricks

Posted by Lisa Carey

Do you need help thinking of environmentally friendly ways to wrap up your holiday gifts? With these 15 easy tips and tricks for greener gift wrapping, your holiday gifts will be all wrapped up!

Soon many of us will be arriving home after surviving the shopping of Black Friday, and our thoughts will be turning towards hiding our gifts from friends and family until the big day (or days) of Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Christmas, and in my family, a birthday. One of the best ways I have found of hiding my gifts is to wrap them as soon as possible after bringing them home, and then locking them away for later. But what will happen to all that wrapping paper, packing, boxes, ribbons, and bows within moments? Unfortunately, for many years it went straight into the trash. Now that I am older and wiser about the environment, I have many tips and tricks for making my gift wrap more eco-friendly and, in many cases, fun and creative too.
Green Gift Wrapping Ideas-Make and Create
Try using newsprint (available from many newspapers, it is the end roll that they can’t use once the paper has been printed and there isn’t enough there for more printing) or paper bags from the grocery store, turned inside out with the bottom cut out. Then decorate with glitter and glue, stencils, sponges, paints markers, etc. The kids really enjoy making their own wrapping paper, and as parents, we know that paper ending up in the trash has had at least one more purpose.

Green Gift Wrapping Ideas: New Uses for “Old” Things
Instead of purchasing a large plastic bag for your gift wrapping needs, why not try using a large size pillow case? This can be used over and over again as needed, and is easily cared for with a quick wash.
Recycle your gift bags received throughout the year. When I have to use a colorful gift bag, I try to use one with solid colors so that I can use them over again. Want to add some color or a theme? Print out a Santa Claus or other holiday design on card stock and use “sticky tack” to attach it. You simply pull it off when done and use the bag again.
Green Gift Wrapping Ideas: Make a Match
Consider wrapping a CD or DVD in a poster of the music or movie–two great presents!
Gifts for the traveler or the car fanatic? Try wrapping those in a map; I know we have some lying around the house from our travels.
Giving the gift of health, beauty, or perfume? These can be wrapped with a page out of a fashion or beauty magazine.
Use the Sunday morning cartoons for gifts for children.
Green Gift Wrapping Knows Ribbons and Bows
Consider using twine, hair ribbons, cloth ribbons, yarn and rope type “ribbon.” These types of ribbons can be used again on anything from crafts to my daughter’s hair after the big day.

Green Gift Wrapping Ideas: Packing and Packaging
Do you have a shredder? My shredder provides me with all the packing materials I need–from gift bags to shipping.
Want to make it more colorful? Use sheets from magazines and let the confetti packaging begin.
Green Gift Wrapping Ideas: Gift Wrapping that Keeps on Giving
One of my favorite gift wrapping ideas is to use the $.99 reusable tote bags available at Wal-Mart. For a small purchase, I can give someone a bag that hopefully will help them start using less plastic and more reusable bags when they do their shopping.

Consider ZenWrap, an eco-friendly alternative to wrapping paper. It is available in three different sizes–small, medium, and large–and a variety of colors for every occasion. This cloth wrap is made with 100% organic cotton, manufactured in the USA, sustainable, biodegradable, and comes with a guide to help you make beautiful wrapping from the cloth. Even using simple sample cloths purchased from a fabric store, or scraps from previous projects, can be used again to make beautiful and eco-friendly gift wrapping.
Want to make sure your gift wrap can keep working? Consider wrapping gifts in tea or hand towels that can be used over and over again.
Going green with your holiday gift wrapping can be fun and creative. Remember to be eco-friendly with your gift wrapping ideas–think outside the “roll.”

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