
I have a few simple ideas for easy and sustainable gift wraps this holiday season!
Studies show that the average American gives 42 gifts in a year (I didn’t realize all of us are that generous). If only three of those gifts were wrapped in recyclable material, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields. I guess the little things do matter when it comes to environmental impact.
What constitutes gift wrap as sustainable?
Well, almost anything can be repurposed, reused, or recycled without waste. One thing I had not considered (who knows why) is that the tape you use matters. Often we use tape that cannot be recycled with, say, eco-friendly kraft paper. Okay, this is where I can do better. Masking tape over Washi tape works well. I wish Washi tape worked, but I never seem to find the kind that can hold anything together. Although, paper Washi tape is great for labels and decorative purposes.
Eco-friendly gift-wrapping ideas
When it comes to wrapping presents this time of year, I like to try to use as many recyclable materials as possible. In addition to using fabric (which is my favorite). I’ve used brown paper bags, plain paper, and old newspapers, and paper from the paint department at the hardware store.
Tote bags can also be a fun way to wrap a gift. And who doesn’t love a fun tote bag in addition to the present?
Using fabric for wrapping paper that can then be used again and again
I especially like this friendly gift wrap idea. I would love to be the recipient of any gift wrapped up in a lovely piece of fabric that would be given to another and then another! One of my favorite methods is the Japanese art of Furoshiki.
Furoshiki
Furoshiki are Japanese wrapping cloths used to wrap or transport goods. In recent years, there has been renewed interest in Furoshiki for environmental reasons over using single-use wrapping paper and plastic tape (that ends up in the trash). You can use Furoshiki gift wrapping kits, but in this case, I used a cotton bandana. You could also use an old scarf, tea towels, or a nice handkerchief for smaller gifts.
Inexpensive Canvas for sustainable gift wrap
Last Christmas, I started using frayed canvas as a ribbon, so why not gift wrap? In general, the frayed canvas ribbon or canvas is so overlooked and underutilized, in my opinion.
I buy my canvas at Blick Art Supply in one of their many NYC stores. You can buy it by the yard, and you have a choice of weight. I can never decide, so I always buy two weights—one sort of thin and another relatively thick.
Here is how I used canvas for this and a few other eco-friendly gift wrapping ideas
Using the canvas to replace paper
I cut a piece of canvas 18″ square. This size seemed like an excellent place to start since many small packages could be wrapped in a piece of cloth this size. I painted stripes on half of the fabric. Messy stripes using a metal yardstick as a guide.
Using canvas strips as ribbon
I wrap all my packages for shopmostlovelythings.com using strips of frayed canvas with twine. Just a tiny piece. I love the way it looks tied to a package or a bag. You can see more about my shop packaging in this post. But for this post, I painted the stripes using the paint I used for the canvas wrap. The paint is what we used to paint Madeline’s apartment. It’s called Sky Pink. We also painted a half wall in her bedroom at our house in this warm terracotta color. See that post here.
Here are some other examples of how I used canvas to wrap up some art supplies for gifts
Wrap up packages using canvas from the art supply store. If possible, buy on the roll so you can purchase at least four yards. This will give you the length you would need to wrap up most pacakges if you decide to use the canvas for making frayed ribbon as well. You can read more about that in this post.
When wrapping up small packages with canvas, I try to cut a large enough piece so that it could easily be repurposed to wrap a book or a bottle. I like to expose the edges of the frayed canvas when possible and fold the ends to meet and then secure with twine. No tape needed. I add some foraged seed pods and clay tags to make each gift unique.
Supplies you’ll need to make some sustainable gift wrap
- Canvas or a canvas drop cloth
- Paint (anything waterbased that you have on hand)
- Paintbrush and straight-edge
- scissors that can cut canvas (I love this pair of scissors)
- Something foraged like boxwood, evergreens, or seed pods.
- ZOE Olive Oil is a lovely olive oil that we enjoy using. We keep a few in the pantry for host gifts because the can is so pretty.
Use a tea towel to wrap a bottle of win or olive oil
Rather than use a gift bag this year for that bottle of wine or olive oil, try a tea towel. I chose this one because it had a ruffle on one end. I simply wrapped a wine bottle in the tea towel and tied it up with a red velvet ribbon.
Without a little creativity, we can all find ways to use some natural materials this season and reduce our carbon footprint by just a little bit.
I like this idea, Annie. However, I have not purchased gift wrap in many years. Instead, I save the paper, ribbons, and tags each year and reuse them, trimming them down as needed to clean up the edges or size appropriately. The only new wrap that comes into the collection is from presents received from others. There is a nostalgia to seeing the favorite, familiar papers year after year. If it’s higher quality paper, it can be used many times. Those zippered plastic pouches in which new bedding sets arrive work well for hoarding — I mean, saving — ribbon. No stick-on bows, please!
Of course, I would have to save your fabric wrapping to use over and over as well!
HI Julia! I love the idea of repurposing gift wrap. That’s such a lovely thought…seeing the same pretty papers used again and again… Merry Christmas!