How to Use Green Gift Wrap This Holiday Season
Submitted by Live Earth on 2 December, 2008 - 17:42
"If every American family wrapped just 3 presents in re-used materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields," according to Stanford University. So this holiday season let's think green and use gift wrappings that are environmentally friendly.
Eco-chick recently highlighted some great quick tips for holiday gift wrap:
- Put gifts in reusable bags, baskets or boxes. It’s classy, and it’s a whole other gift in itself. No worries about this sort of packaging ending up in the trash!
- Instead of bows, use ornaments, hair barrettes, brooches, key chains or other small decorative items that’ll get reused.
- Avoid wrapping paper with foil accents. Metallic and foil papers usually can’t be recycled, and in some recycling facilities, if they end up in the mix with other paper, they can ruin a whole batch, making it totally unusable.
- Turn to nature for inspiration. Pine cones, branches, acorns and feathers can provide an unexpected decorative touch.
Three places to visit to find eco-friendly wrapping paper are: Amy Butler, Erin Ruth and Whimsy. Also check out Green Earth Office Supplies to purchase materials that are better for the earth, like clear cellulose tape and recycled gummed paper tape.
Years ago I found several
Years ago I found several shopping bags full of used wrapping paper in my parents' home. Some had been left over from big gifts that my brothers and I got as children. I spent some enjoyable hours sorting through it all, finding unusual papers from the 50s and 60s, and wrapping new gifts in them, decorating them with holly from the bush outside.
I sorted out the remaining scraps of used paper by size--small, medium, large--and now look forward each year to going to the family store of "antique" holiday paper to see what I can use for different size gifts. I haven't bought new paper in several years, and probably won't need to till 2020!
When I first told my siblings about my discovery, they rolled their eyes at me. When I showed them samples of the old paper and newly wrapped gifts, they were won over.
Wrap the pressie with a funky
Wrap the pressie with a funky cloth - Japanese furoshiki style! The cloth can be reused.
I wrap my gifts in fabric
I wrap my gifts in fabric that I reuse every year. One year I just decided to stop using paper and went out and bought about nine yards of inexpensive ($1/yard) festive-looking fabric. I bought a bunch of ribbon, too, because I don't adhere the fabric to close it; I depend on the ribbon to hold it closed. There's a lovely green and gold diamond pattern, blue with white snowmen, purplish/reddish with snowflakes... After the season I went and bought some more. I cut it into two or three basic sizes. For large items I use (and reuse) those big cloth bags from Amazon that they sell at the Job Lot. And I reuse every single gift bag I get.
Fabric-wrapped gifts are sometimes easier, unfortunately, for little eyes to peek into, being more loosely wrapped, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to take to be green.
I use inexpensive tissue paper for the Santa gifts, and I don't use the fabric for any gifts I give to people outside of my home, but still, a roll of paper lasts me two or three years.
For years the branches of my
For years the branches of my family have given baskets full of little gifts--and now we have more baskets than we know what to do with. So be careful of this! Reuse reuse reuse!
For years I've been wrapping
For years I've been wrapping my gifts in the funny papers. It's colorful and cheap.
this year i also decided NO
this year i also decided NO PAPER, or PLASTIC.
Will be hitting the grocery stores, and shops my family frequents, for reusable canvas bags, and some pretty ribbon from the fabric store, match up the gifts with the people, and the bags, and ta da! I hope it goes great. I have also asked my family to do the same.
"do something drastic, cut out the plastic"