Recycled Gift Wrap Ideas
For me the best part of December is the anticipation of Christmas. I get so much joy out of choosing JUST the right gifts and of course, packaging it in pretty wrapping. That said, I recently learned that Americans throw away 25% more trash between Thanksgiving and New Year’s than they do any other time of year – and if every family wrapped only THREE presents using recycled gift wrap it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields (source)… that is INSANE!
With those statistics in mind, I plan to do my part to reduce unnecessary wrapping paper waste while still packaging pretty presents (alliteration ftw!). Read on (or watch my youtube video!) for how I’m planning on doing so…
– CALENDARS –
Wrap gifts using old calendars – I saw another example of this on my friend Amy’s blog Homey Oh My and I thought it was so clever. I am going to purchase my 2017 calendar with the intention of using it as recycled gift wrap next year as well!
– HOLIDAY CARDS –
Another idea is to recycle last year’s holiday cards as this year’s gift tags. Each year I save the prettiest holiday cards I receive and cut them into tag shapes to attach to presents the following year. It’s a festive way to dress up a simply wrapped gift.
– PAPER BAGS –
This idea is an oldie but a goodie. I save up the shopping bags I use buying Thanksgiving dinner items to use again as recycled gift wrap. My mom probably would iron out the folds on these bags before wrapping her gifts with them but I think the “rustic” look is just fine.
And there you have it! Three ideas for ways to create your own recycled gift wrap. Let’s all do our part to not only do good for each other this holiday season, but also to do good for our planet. Happy holidays!