5 Eco-friendly Gift Wrapping Ideas

Christmas season is just around the corner and it only means one thing – it’s the season to give and receive gifts. When I was younger, I used to wonder why people spent so much money and time on wrapping gifts when recipients will just tear them up and throw the gift wrappers in trash can. No wonder that at the end of the holiday season, tons of gift wrapping papers are sent to landfills for disposal. Mother Earth will certainly not be happy about it.

There are several ways to wrap your gifts using eco-friendly materials that can be reused and/or recycled by your recipients.

1. Glass Mason Jars

If you’re planning to give your homemade baked goods (e.g. cookies, brownies, etc.) as gifts, then mason jars are the perfect packaging for these edible gifts. Trying to be more creative? Why not make your own chocolate chip cookiemix in a jar and don’t forget to add your own customized gift tags to make it more special. Later on, your gift recipients can reuse the mason jars as containers for a variety of stuff.

2. Canvas Bags

More and more groceries and shops these days are switching to using canvas bags to package the items bought by their customers. Canvas bags are very sturdy so they are ideal containers for DIY Christmas gift baskets. There are also suppliers who sell blank canvas bags that you can personalize with your own designs.

3. Beeswax Food Wraps

NatuWrap Reusable Beeswax Food Wrap is available at Milea

Beeswax-coated fabrics (a.k.a. beeswax food wraps) are natural alternative to plastic wraps that we can use for food storage. Aside from wrapping food, you can also use it to wrap gifts. The best thing about using beeswax wrap as gift wrapping paper is that you don’t need to use a scotch tape to seal the edges. Beeswax wraps are naturally sticky so you just need to use the pressure and warmth of your hands to activate its self-adhesive nature. They are also reusable, washable and biodegradable. Watch this video to learn the various ways that you can reuse beeswax food wraps.

4. Brown Paper Bags

If you live in a city that promotes plastic-free shopping, then chances are you have tons of brown paper bags stashed in your pantry cabinet. Please, don’t throw them away because they make great gift wrapping papers that are very eco-friendly. Last Christmas, I actually used large brown paper bags to create smaller gift bags for my DIY lip balms. This idea is not only “green” but also economical.

5. Cloth

Ever heard of furoshiki? Furoshiki is the Japanese art of wrapping gifts using a piece of cloth. You can use any fabric like scarves, kitchen towels, tablecloths and large handkerchiefs to wrap any stuff (even odd-shaped items like a bottle of wine). What’s so good about this wrapping technique is that the recipient can use both the gift itself and the cloth that is used to wrap the gift. To get you inspired, here is a video that teaches you the basic of gift wrapping using a cloth.

Do you have other eco-friendly and frugal ways of wrapping gifts? Share them on the comment section below.

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