Wrap better! 5 Secrets to Sustainable Giving this December

Did you know? Over the holidays, 227,000 miles of wrapping paper is thrown away.

That’s enough paper to circle planet Earth 9 times.

I know what you’re thinking. “No biggie. Wrapping paper gets recycled.”

Wrong.

Thanks to dyes, lamination and non-paper additives, wrapping paper as a general rule ISN’T RECYCLABLE.

Several companies sell sustainable wrapping:

 Wrappily prints festive patterns on 100-percent recycled newsprint.

FishLips sells zippered fabric bags, place cards, gift tags, and holiday cards in addition to its gift wrap options.

GreenField Paper Company sells products made from hemp not limited to the holidays, including wedding invitations, business cards and notecards written on plantable seed paper.

But really, there’s no need to purchase eco-friendly paper at a (very hefty) premium. If you’re willing to get creative, you can easily fashion your own sustainable – and economical! – wrapping at home.

Wrap better by decreasing your gifting footprint. Here are five tricks to get you started.

1. Use newspaper.

Remember the good ol’ days (for me, it was 3rd-ish grade) when presents were wrapped in the Sunday funnies?

I miss those days.

These days, think beyond the comics. Use sheet music. Or old scrapbooking paper. Or a map. Perhaps you get cheeky and choose wrapping that hints at the contents within.

Give both a gift and an activity. When wrapping for a child, I leaf through kid-friendly magazines, coloring books, academic reinforcement books and sticker books and reserve the unused sheets. (There are always unused sheets.) Mazes, puzzles, coloring pages, word finds and other age-appropriate activities are all fair game.

For oversized presents that require oversized gift wrap, carefully adhere multiple pages together with packing tape on the wrong sides.

2. Make your own bows.

Find an eye-catching page in a magazine, then destroy it. Cut ten strips of the following lengths:

3 strips the full length of the magazine

3 strips one inch shorter than the full length of the magazine

2 strips two inches shorter than the full length of the magazine

1 strip three inches shorter than the full length of the magazine

1 two-inch strip

Make the smallest strip into a circle and fasten with a drop of glue. Twist the remaining strips into individual Figure 8’s and fasten with tape.

Starting with the longest strips, lay them atop one another in descending order, making a star-pattern. Fasten all Figure 8’s together with a single staple, then cover the staple with the circled strip. Glue in place.

Full disclosure: You may curse a little bit during the process, and your first bow will probably look a bit wonky. But trust me: the process gets quicker and easier the more you practice.

3. Decorate brown paper.

We all have brown paper bags lying around. Why not cut off the handles, cut out the bottoms, lay them into flat sheets and decorate the bare side?

Frequent Amazon customers are familiar with the extra-long brown paper that comes inside those oversized boxes. With a bit of creativity this paper, too, can be repurposed into homemade gift wrap.

Purchasing butcher paper is an affordable way to access hundreds of feet of sturdy, thick paper.  Buy the unwaxed version so it can later be recycled.

Choose a paper, then get creating! Splatter white paint to recreate the look of snow. Evoke the beauty of Evergreens by painting descending green triangles. Enlist your child’s help and press her handprints in a funky, colorful pattern. The opportunities to create unique gift wrap are endless.

4. Invest in fabric.

Countless sellers on Etsy carry reusable fabric gift bags but, if you’re handy with a sewing machine, you can make them yourself.

If sewing isn’t your thing, perhaps you learn the (very easy) ancient Japanese art of wrapping gifts with fabric called Furoshiki.

Purchase fabric in festive patterns with the intent of reuse, or repurpose what you already have. Old sheets can be transformed using ribbon and fabric pens; scarves and bandanas as wrapping become part of the gift. 

5. Utilize baskets, crates and jars.

Food almost always looks nicer in a basket.

Everything is adorable in a mason jar.

Forego gift wrap, cellophane and tissue altogether by finding a unique container for the present you’re gifting that can later be used by the recipient. Crates, pots, baskets, jars, vases, wooden boxes, decorative glass containers and more are all fair game.

When gifting to a child – and especially if the present has multiple parts – consider wrapping in a storage container the complements the gift. Colored pencils and markers are gifted nicely in a pencil box, for example; hair bows, ribbons and ties fit well inside a decorative, lidded jar.

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