10+ Eco Friendly Gift Wrap Ideas

It’s the holiday season and that means it’s time for decorating, baking and wrapping! It’s always been important to me to be environmentally conscious. That’s why I decided to share 10+ eco friendly gift wrap ideas that anyone can do!

 

I’m all about being thrifty and buying 2nd hand, or reusing things in a new way and a lot of these ideas so easy and will save you money. There’s something wonderful about giving a gift, but when you’re also thinking about Mother Earth then that just makes the gift even better. It’s kind of disgusting how much money is wasted on gift wrap, and that a lot of it ends up in landfills. I encourage you to try at least 1 thing on this list of eco friendly gift wrap ideas, or if you tell me you already do them all then that makes me even happier! 

Reusable fabric Gift Bags. This one is for my favorite DIYs and we’ve been using ours for years. I find I always have spare fabric lying around so I got creative and pulled together some easy fabric gift bags. What’s better is we reuse them year after year keeping the trash to a minimum and clean up easy. If you don’t sew you can also buy some Amazon, or if you check the box for them to wrap. We also have the Amazon bags and love how quick and easy it is to wrap gifts. 

There’s a reason brown paper packages tied up with strings is a favorite thing. Taking old grocery bags and using them to wrap your packages is a beautifully simple gift. I love using scraps of yarn for the string, plus you know this can be recycled after it’s been opened. 

The shopping bags have really gotten a lot more decorative than they used to be. Instead of buying a paper bag for $3 think about buying the reusable ones for a few more dollars and helping encourage a greener lifestyle to the recipient. 

Every year after Christmas I run to the local stores and grab up the decorative tins and boxes. These are great for gift giving and I’ve been using old popcorn tins to store the ribbons, bows, reusable gift bags and more for years!

Don’t recycle those empty sauce jars just yet. Reuse them for some creative gift giving ideas or homemade gifts. I also have 5 creative ways to give a gift card! 

This is the perfect way to wrap a present within a present. 

A lot of people are ordering gifts online so check your recycling bin for boxing before buying.  Don’t forget about food packaging like cereal, or fruit bar boxes for smaller items. It’s also a great fake out! 

If you have young ones who bring home art projects constantly this is the perfect time to share their masterpieces. Not only will they be proud of their work, but you won’t feel as guilty about it being “stored” in the trash.

We all get them. I have an entire box of gift bags I’ve been given and I’m all about reusing those for the items I can’t quite fit into other things. Just make sure you remove your name and that it’s in nice condition. As for bows and ribbons. I just roll them up or save them and reuse them every year. 

If none of these spark you as exciting and wrapping gifts in wrapping paper is important to you than I encourage you to look for wrapping paper that’s recyclable. Not all wrapping paper is, and I understand the excitement for ripping open a package but by buying 100% recyclable paper does make a difference. 

 

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Remember sometimes the best gift is a donation to a cause or organization someone is super passionate about and that gift is delivered via email! 

 

It’s really not hard to move from our tradition of wrapping gifts. Just making one change will start to make a difference and I encourage you to try one as well!

 

Happy Greener Gifting!