Gift Wrapping....

[tommymommy]

So anyway, how do you wrap your holiday presents? For the most part I usually try to re-use gift bags from the year before. This year I had the idea to use newspaper and then put on really pretty coordinating bows. I had the idea that I could start that as our "signature" family gift wrap. I also thought that when Tommy gets a little older he can draw on the boxes to personalize them a little. I was so happy with this plan until I told DH and he told me to stop being such a hippie. Then he said as long as I don't do it on the presents we take to his families house he didn't care.

I had a friend who didn't wrap her gifts at all. She basically sent her kids on a scavenger hunt starting with the smaller gifts and leading to whatever the main gift was.

So what do you do about all the wrapping-paper-before/trash-immediately-after?

[Suzanne]

I am such a dork. When someone gives me a present wrapped in nice paper, I unwrap it carefully, and save the paper!

[HappyEarthCreations]

This year I'm making reusable cloth gift bags and tying them with pretty ribbon. My 4-year-old and I have also been making recycled paper and then cutting it into little rectangles to use as gift tags. I've told my friends about it and they think it's great, so hopefully I'll get some of the bags back again next year!

My dh thinks I'm crazy, too, so we'll probably have some gifts wrapped in wrapping paper.

[dubulicious]

Good thread. I hope more share their ways of wrapping.
I used to take wrapping paper off nicely and re-use it (ok, I still do occasionally if it's very pretty and I always save the tissue paper) but I can't justify keeping old paper in storage and moving it from place to place so we just recycle it. I bought 2 rolls on sale and that's all we'll use but I'm sure there is a better way to gift wrap. For a baby shower present, I wrapped the gifts in a baby blanket instead of paper. A while back, me and my dorm mates wrapped presents in unusual stuff- more so to be funny and creative than to save the environment. For an example, toilet paper was used on occasion or we made wrapping paper out of magazine pictures. It was really nice looking but took a while to do. Unfortunately, even though we were re-using the paper, we were still using a lot of tape. I was thinking of using the comics from the newspaper as wrapping paper but we don't get a newspaper anymore! If you do, I think it's a cute idea.

[Bukawww]

www.rewrapables.com

:thumbsup:

[SimplyGreen]

We have our friends and extend family save their brown paper grocery bags( they have yet to jump into using cloth). I cut them up and use them as wrapping paper. Put a cute bow on and your good to go!!! I have in previous years painted snowflakes on them, but no time for that this year!! I love the idea of cloth bags, then they could use them again!!!

[kaspears17]

We save all our boxes and bags from prevous years gift exchanges. This year, a friend moved, so she gave us all the paper the movers used to pack her stuff and we are wrapping our kids gifts and gifts to each other in that. For gifts we take to friends & work parties, dh won't let me do that, so we are re-using gift bags , for family gift exchanges we are using fabric wraps. Very green Christmas for us. :)

[redsonja]

For baby showers or baby gifts at Christmas time I buy an inexpensive blanket and wrap the present up in the blanket and tie it with a ribbon.

For regular gifts I use gift bags (and reuse them) or I just use paper and recycle it.

[greenMImama]

I reuse all the bags I have ever gotten, I probably have 30 of them in my basement, at CHristmas time if it looks like people are not going to save the bags, I will tak ethem and save them.
I bought my mom and SIL some Chico bags, I think I will use one as wrapping paper.
My cousins always used the comics, I always thought it looked really cool.

[TNEarthMama]

I was not "green" with hardly any of my gifts this year, other then a few re used gift bags I got last year. But most of the things I used were clearanced soo low I could not resist them last year LOL.

But if I were to want to be totally green and only use something that did not cost me much at all.. I would use Newspaper comics.. I remember as a child and teenager, I had a hippie family that we were close with, every time I got a gift from them xmas, birthday etc.. It was in newspaper comics.. Kinda there family thing.. I loved it.. My sisters ask if I will ever do that cause I'm soo "hippie" they say.. LOL

[langyork]

I bought some felt bags with christmas themes at Michaels that I will use forever.

Have you ever seen how much trash goes out the week after christmas?

[mvpagano]

I just made large burlap bags yesterday and let the kids decorate them. Each family member gets their own bag/sack and we'll put all the presents for that person in the bag. When papa hands out the presents on Christmas morning he just takes turns to pick presents from the different bags - no wrapping required, just tags.

[sushi_noem]

Wow, I love the burlap sack idea....how super easy! I reuse gift bags (I think my mom and I have been passing the same 5 bags back and forth for the last 3 years :giggle: ) and recycle as much of the paper/packaging/etc as I can. I also save all the bows. Sometimes my mom gets pretty fabric and wraps gifts in that.

[Jewelgurl137]

This year we are just using cheap wrapping paper. Next year we will use cloth ones and etc. though for ourselves personally.

[whalvo]

I once bought some cloth gift bags from a Patagonia outlet that I LOVE and will make my own from now on. I also like the idea of the brown paper bags, so I may go wrap a few presents in that right now. THANKS!

[langyork]

I am also using just giant ribbon I bought from sam's to wrap up blankets or towels and pillows.

You mamas are inspiring me more for next year though!! I did use regular wrapping paper for gifts to extended family.

I am so in to reducing our own trash. Everyone else's trash I haven't gotten into ...yet.

[Infinity]

This year I'm making reusable cloth gift bags and tying them with pretty ribbon.

This is what I want to do after we use up all the (TON) of Christmas papper we have. We bought 2 HUGE Costco rolls that are now 2 and 3 years old. I think we'll get probally 3 mor christmas out of them!!! I want to Make Birthday bags before March when we start haveing birthdays.


edited to add. Blankets with ribbon make awsome 'un-papper' for gifts. Especialy for Baby showers!