10 Eco-Friendly Gift Wrap Tips

I can’t help but cringe when I see the huge trash bag of crumpled gift wrap after gift-giving occasions. Buying paper and wrapping it around boxes, only to rip it off and throw it away — it’s an odd tradition if you think about it! Surely there are better ways to conceal the contents of your packages from the gift recipient.

Not every municipality recycles gift wrap, and some wrapping paper has metallic fibers or other content that can taint the paper pulp. Recycle when you can and use these quick tips to green your gifts:

1. Buy rolls of white or natural-colored kraft paper made out of all or some recycled content.
2. Stockpile old newspapers to use as gift wrap. Use the comics for kids and black-and-white print paper for sophisticated wrap jobs. Embellish with a red yarn bow for a bit of color.
3. Upcycle scraps of fabric to sew reusable gift bags. They’re particularly good for oddly shaped items, and you could even cut up old sheets or clothing to make them.
4. Make a bow out of a magazine page.
5. Scout your yard or park for natural embellishments, such as pinecones, sprigs of ivy, or small pine boughs.
6. Make bows or pom-poms from scraps of leftover yarn from a knitting project.
7. Craft jingle bells from an egg carton. Bonus: they can double as ornaments.
8. Learn to wrap without tape so that you’re using one less consumable. Even if you’re just using a few inches for each gift, all that tape adds up! This also makes it easier to recycle the paper, or better yet, to keep it and reuse it next time you need to wrap a gift.
9. Don’t buy gift tags. Instead, invest in a gift tag stamp that you can use right on your wrap (yet another reason to use plain kraft paper!) or use the stamps to make your own tags by reusing scrap paper.
10. After the holiday, find fun ways to reuse wrapping paper instead of (or before) recycling it. Shred or crumple it to use as packing material. Donate it to a school to use for collages and other art projects. Or use it to make a pretty wreath to hang on your door next year.