It's almost time to pull that wrapping all-nighter again. And of course every green mama out there will be asking herself the same question: at what expense to the planet?Shinny metal details on even the cutest wrapping paper is toxic. From of the runoff at production to time, to Grandpa tossing it into the fire emitting toxic gasses into the air, holiday wrapping can be quite ecologically expensive.
Good news, though! There are endless eco-friendly ways to wrap your gifts this holiday season. All it ever takes is a little ingenuity and creativity.
And the best part of using alternative wrapping is that you get to use your creativity. And involve the kids. They especially love being the artists who decorate gifts.
- Wrap gifts in your child's art work. Have them finger paint and glitterfy some paper, like from those big floor art pads they have, and let them know it'll be used as gift wrapping. They'll be so proud :)
- Use part of the gift itself, like a scarf or silky, to wrap whatever else you've gotten the person.
- I love putting together my gifts to friends and co-workers in a green reusable shopping bag.
- Reuse gift bags, boxes, tissue paper, and ribbons from presents past (and save all that you can this year too!)
- Once a friend gave me a gift inside of a old wine box that she got from a local wine store for free. Often tossed out, the wooden boxes are great for decorating gifts and reusable.
- Using a yard of fabric, wrapped with a satin bow is not only special, it's also reusable!
- Wrap it in a T-shirt, scarf, basket, quilt, duffel bag, reusable shopping tote.
- Find festive wrapping paper made from recycled paper, hemp, bamboo, and other sustainable resources.
- Old maps! I saw this idea at a party recently and I fell in love with it! Maps get outdated so quickly, why not use them as wrapping? Brilliant!
Just think to yourself when scheming up new ideas: Is it reusable? Can it be recycled? Is it made from a sustainable eco-friendly resource, reuses post-consumer waste?
Consider these eco savvy alternatives and have a fun rockin' time coming up with your own green holiday alternatives!
:)
All great ideas Lia! We have some bags from Wrapsacks.com that we use for all in-family gifting. Christmas, birthdays, etc. So they get used again and again and stay in the family. For gifting outside teh family, we use holiday catalogs, fabric scraps, and plain brown paper that boxes are often stuffed with when things are shipped.
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