Types of Eco-friendly Frugal Gift Wrapping

Reduce Your Need for Gift Wrapping

• Buy fewer gifts - Obviously, but if you have less stuff to wrap, it’s much easier to use Earth-friendly alternatives. Stick to a handful of desirable, meaningful, or handmade items, and skip out on all the little stuff that just ends up in the trash or donation pile. You could even wrap gifts together in one piece of paper!

• Give fewer tangible presents and more experiences - If you still prefer to go for volume with your holiday shopping, consider replacing some of it with experiences instead. You can get creative with the gifts you choose as movies and restaurants may not be available to you. To pick the perfect experience, think about what your family love to do on a day out!

• Don’t wrap everything - Save the gift wrap for the bigger surprises! Avoid wrapping smaller gifts, stocking stuffers and large gifts that require lots of paper. You could always put the gifts into a stocking and put newspaper or tissue paper in the top to hide the contents!

Reusable Items That Become Part of the Gift

• Reusable shopping bags - Reusable bags are easier than ever to find and come in cute holiday prints. As a bonus, your loved ones have adorable reusable shopping bags they can carry to continue the eco-friendly life! 

• Scarves - You might have already heard of Furoshiki, the Japanese method of using squares of cloth to wrap gifts. It’s elegant, beautiful, and eliminates the need for paper altogether. The problem is that those gorgeous traditional cloth wraps don’t come cheap. Hit up thrift stores, garage sales, or budget clothing shops, and look for large, square scarves in pretty patterns to try out this gift wrapping method. Then your loved one can wear the scarf and enjoy the gift!

• Holiday print tea towels - Much like with scarves, you can usually scoop up Christmas printed towels for wrapping small gifts. If the recipient likes to decorate for holidays, they might appreciate wrapping that doubles as décor!

• Raw fabric - Your local craft store box has lots of patterns of fabric at reasonable prices. If you’ve got a seamstress on your shopping list, get them some much needed crafting supplies. Then wrap in a fun printed fabric, and watch the recipient realize that the wrapping is actually their next project! 

• Old wrapping and gift bags - Do you save every single bit of salvageable Christmas wrapping that you get your hands on? If so, you’re probably already using those scraps to wrap your presents this year! 

Repurpose Your Trash

• Baby food jars that hold trinkets, jewellery or loose craft supplies

• Old Pringles containers carry homemade cookies 

• Coffee tins and oatmeal canisters can be decorated and hold more delicate items

• Paint or decorate old 6 pack containers to hold jams, jellies, salsas, spice blends, and more. Otherwise, put together an arts and crafts kit for artistic loved ones. 

• Toilet paper and paper towel tubes become gift poppers or pockets for candy, small toys, and other stocking stuffers. 

• Brown paper bags from the store make a great alternative to craft paper

• Make your own gift envelopes with craft paper, construction paper, newspapers, paper bags… any scrap paper you can find!

Recycling Household Items

• Use your delivery boxes - Did you do your shopping online? If your goodies are delivered in blank boxes, keep the gifts in the box. Let the little ones go to town on the boxes with crayons, markers, or biodegradable paint.

• Craft or construction paper - Go for the classic vintage country vibe with plain craft paper tied up with twine or dress up your packaging with stamps or paint. Just like with the boxes, you can also let little ones decorate the wrapping. This is especially fun if you’re gifting to parents, grandparents, or close relatives because they can keep their favourite part of the wrapping and display the art!

• Newspaper - Go classic with black and white print or have fun with the comic section.

• Old maps - I always find cheap maps at thrift stores or second-hand bookstores! These make really fun wrappers for your loved ones with a bad case of wanderlust. 

• Recyclable gift wrapping - Sparkly, shiny wrapping paper is not recyclable. The recycled paper probably can be pricey, but you can buy wrapping that’s safe to recycle. Recycled paper may not be as pretty, but wrapping paper is torn through instantly, so you aren't missing out! 

Whether you want to have yourself an eco-friendly Christmas, or you just want to cut down on your trash load a little bit, there is no shortage of ideas and materials you can use! What’s your favourite eco-friendly frugal gift wrapping idea? Want to take things a step further? I'd love to hear what you're doing this year to cut down on your Christmas waste and have an eco-friendly holiday! 

Mrs P&P is a teacher, mama, and content creator on Problems & Projects, where she shares her experiences and helps people conquer challenges in the home and budget. You can also check out how her family is chipping away at tens of thousands in consumer debt through monthly budget reports that detail real-life spending, savings, and debt payoff. If you enjoyed this story, be sure to check out the blog and follow on social media!

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