This holiday season I’m trying to be more sustainable by figuring out eco friendly gift wrap and present options. The previous weeks, we took a look at some reduced and/or plastic-free options for presents. Strategy #1, was to shop local and how buying things locally can be more earth friendly. Strategy #2, was quick and thoughtful homemade gifts such as meals-in-jars, handmade crafts, and gift baskets. Yes, some of these homemade gifts can still be made in time for the holidays!
Now that we have the gifts, this week we’ll explore different gift wrap options.
But first, let’s talk about furoshiki. Furoshiki is the Japanese technique for wrapping gifts in cloth (the link will take you to more information and a tutorial about furoshiki). We’re talking about it first because it can technically be applied to all of the eco friendly gift wrap options below – buy it, make it, reuse it. For furoshiki, you will need a piece of cloth that has been hemmed or a fabric that doesn’t fray. The cloth needs to be larger than the gift. And then you will wrap the fabric around the gift and tie a knot.
Options to buy eco friendly gift wrap
One eco friendly gift wrap option is to buy gift wrap that is made from recycled paper. Other options are buying and gifting with reusable gift bags. You can find reusable gift bags at most stores now, even the dollar stores. Just keep in mind that paper with glitter, metallic, or velvety fibers typically can’t be recycled. I’ve also found reusable gift wrap options at craft fairs and on Etsy.com (an online marketplace for independent small businesses and individuals).
For ribbons and bows, there are things like natural raffia (not the synthetic raffia) and paper bows that you can use to be used as eco friendly alternatives.
Making eco friendly gift wrap
Handmade fabric gift bags are a very good beginner sewing project. The bread bag pattern we did for the plastic-free bread challenge can also be used as a gift bag. To use the bread bag pattern for a gift bag, just use a holiday themed tea towel, or cloth napkins, to add some festive color. This time of year, there are usually quite a few holiday tea towels at the thrift stores to choose from.
The next homemade gift bag I’m going to mention is the Japanese knot bag. Now, I haven’t tried making them yet, but the patterns I’ve found look easy enough for a beginner sewer like me. I really hope to finish a few for next year because they are like a gift in themselves. They also look good for wrapping odd shaped presents. I also need to try making my own furoshiki wraps as well.
I ended up not needing to make any furoshiki wraps this year. And that’s because of all the great scarves and napkins I found at the thrift store. Thanks to these, I’ve been able to wrap all the children’s gifts in festive holiday fabrics!
Get more use out of your newspaper
I don’t get a newspaper, but if I did, this would provide another eco friendly gift wrap option. The comics section of a newspaper already makes for a good wrapping alternative, but you can use the regular print sections as well. You’ll just need some large stamps and ink to turn that regular newspaper into a colorful gift wrap!
Don’t forget the tags and ribbon
Every year, I save my old calendars to use for paper crafts. Usually the calendars end up being used for little gift boxes, cards, and holiday tags. It’s basically a colorful card stock paper and what could be better for gifts!
What about the ribbon? We already mentioned using natural raffia which is a plant based fiber used for ribbon. But if you’re a crafter, it’s likely you have a bit of leftover yarn floating around somewhere. Those leftover pieces of yarn can work really well for ribbon and bows. I’ve been using them to tie the recipe card to my GF Pancake-in-a-mug gift jars.
I hope some of these ideas can work for your eco friendly gift wrap! Let me know in the comments below which one’s you like the best.
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