How To Use Sustainable Gift Wrap This Christmas

There are so many ways you can incorporate your sustainable ideals in to your Christmas gift wrap this year. Moving away from the non-recyclable, glitter covered wrapping paper that will only end up in landfill. Instead we can all do our little bit to help the environment and move towards eco friendly, sustainable ideas instead.

However, it’s not just wrapping paper that can be more eco-friendly. You could also ensure your gift tags are also sustainable as well. Instead of opting for the glitter covered ones, go for brown paper or card that’s easier to recycle. If you make them yourself, they could be cut out of old cardboard boxes, or packing paper. However, if you decide to go for custom gift tags, then make sure they’re 100% recyclable – such as these from Aura Print.

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So, what can you use instead of wrapping paper this Christmas? Here are our top 10 favourites…

Use Old Newspapers

As fish & chips shops once did to wrap up your takeaways, you could use a sheet of newspaper for your Christmas wrapping paper. I think this style of wrapping paper looks great with some bright green foliage attached, or a few holly berries. It also makes it look as though you’ve really taken your time over their gift.

Toilet Roll For Smaller Items

This might sound like an odd choice but you could use an old toilet roll to use as a tiny gift box. All you would need to do is fold in the ends as neatly as you can to create the box. Then simply decorate as you wish. You could tie a ribbon around the centre, use your stamps to create beautiful festive patterns. Or you could even glue on some foliage fro the garden.

Old Sheet Music

OK, so probably not one we all have lying around the house these days. However, it’s likely you’ll be able to pick up something like this at a charity shop. There’s something so dreamy and romantic about a gift that’s wrapped in old sheet music. It often has that old book smell, with slight discolourations in places. As though trying to tell a story.

You would use the sheet music exactly as you would paper wrapping and perhaps finish it off with some ribbon or a bow.

Old Books That Can’t Be Given To Charity

Similar to that of the sheet music, you could use pages from an old worn out book to wrap some of your smaller gifts. For even smaller gifts, you could even make tiny little gift bags out of the pages.

A Cereal Box

Old cereal boxes are great for using as more of a gift box. If you’re careful, you can unpick the glue around the outside of the box and turn it inside out. This means the now outside of the box should be plain, and often brown. A great blank canvas for you to get creative with your stamps, bows and old ribbons.

Material Scraps

Whether you have an old scarf you no longer use, or perhaps a t-shirt with holes in. Instead of throwing it away, you could upcycle it as your Christmas wrapping paper. This can also cut out the need for using cellotape as well as you can simply tie the material around your gift.

Brown Paper Bread Or Vegetable Bags

If you buy fresh bread of vegetables from a supermarket, they often have brown paper bags you can use to put them in. Once you’ve got your goodies home, why not re-use the bag for your Christmas wrapping paper.

If you have any ink stamps, or left over ribbons you could jazz up the bag a little and make it for festive. A totally free option for wrapping paper, and great to re-use the paper bag for something else.

Don’t Forget The Packaging!

If you intend on sending your gifts out by mail, don’t forget to use compostable packaging where possible. There are many companies these days that offer a more eco-friendly type of packaging for your gifts. It’s so easy to forget that the majority of the postage packaging you can find isn’t recyclable. Look around before you send out your gifts to make sure you find a great deal for your packaging.

How will you help to make your home more eco friendly this Christmas? We hope you all have a wonderful time celebrating Christmas this year.

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