8 Sustainable Ideas to Wrap Your Gifts

Gifts are an amazing way to show someone that you care, think about them, or are grateful for their existence. It’s not about materialism, buying something expensive, or being showy. A present is about the little things and the little gestures that create stronger connections between two individuals. Baking banana bread for a friend can be a gift. A cactus, buying a coffee for someone, a work of art you made, are all gifts. They symbolize love, friendship, devotion, and good karma, and are a great opportunity to build and reinforce relationships. When you are choosing a gift, you are thinking about the other person, not yourself, and considering the best way to share with them happiness and gratitude.

Whether you are planning on gifting for Christmas, a birthday, or any occasion (because sometimes you don’t need an excuse and every day can be gift-giving-day), there is always a way to make it more sustainably. This involves–to start with–choosing a gift that is sustainable, which could mean buying something from a sustainable brand, thrifting, gifting an experience, a DIY project, regifting, or buying something made from natural materials. On the other hand, it entails wrapping that gift in the most sustainable way possible.

In 2017, a total of $12.7 billion were spent on gift wrap, including wrapping paper, tissue paper, and gift bags. Additionally, only during the period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, Americans throw away 25% more trash than any other time of the year, which amounts to 25 million tons of garbage.

These numbers are concerning, and what makes them worse is the fact that gift wrap is used for a fleeting instant, torn apart, and thrown away. Using virgin paper isn’t sustainable, and it’s also unnecessary! What if we could extend their life or find an alternative that’s not so wasteful? According to Stanford, if every American family wrapped just 3 presents in reused materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields.

My ideas to make the art of gift-giving more conscious and environmentally-friendly, are based on some of the most important points (or ‘R’s) of sustainability: Reduce, Reuse and Repurpose. Your best eco-choice could be giving new life to things you already have or reusing the gift wrap from a present you received recently. Either way, we can lower our impact on the environment with these simple ideas.

SIMPLE ECO-FRIENDLY WAYS TO WRAP GIFTS

1. REUSE BOXES

You might have boxes at home from shipments you received lately, a box you used to carry your groceries at the supermarket, or an old shoebox you have around your house, which are a great option to carry gifts of all sizes. You can reuse them just as they are, or you can get creative and make it prettier by painting it, doing a collage, or wrapping it with some of the other sustainable gift-wrapping options I mention below.

2. Grab those old journals and magazines

An old journal or magazine can be a great way to wrap your gift. Even if you don’t have any at home, I’m positive that your parents or your dentist’s office can help you with finding them! You can use whole pages or take the time to make a collage. Look for photos or colors that represent the personality of the gift receiver. For example, if the person who will be receiving your gift loves nature, you can look for pages with green tones, and photos of trees or flowers.

3. Reuse fabrics

You probably have many clothes at home that you no longer use. Chances are you thought about donating and getting rid of them. However, just like the Rs of sustainability state, reusing is one of the best ways to reduce waste. To make your gift-wrapping experience more sustainable, you can reuse old shirts, bandanas, blankets, or fabric leftovers you have at home and use it the same way you would use paper. In case you are feeling inspired, you can try the famous furoshiki wrapping method.

4. Reuse bags from presents you received

This is one of the ideas I put into action the most. Sometimes we try our best to be as sustainable as we can when we are giving presents, but that doesn’t mean that the gifts you receive will be the same. Everyone’s doing their best, or sometimes people don’t know about the environmental impact of gift wraps or bags. Whenever I receive one of those beautiful new bags, I store them in one of my drawers. This way, when the time comes and I need a birthday-themed bag or a Christmas-themed bag, I have it within arm’s reach.

5. Reuse scraps of paper

In my experience, there is always a piece of paper around the house waiting to be reused. It might come from that shipment box you received (the classic white paper that makes a great gift wrap), or a bit of a wallpaper you have left from your home décor days. It might be a gift wrap from a gift you received lately, or a drawing you made that could have been thrown away. The possibilities are endless, and so are the chances of making your gift-giving adventure more sustainable!

6. Repurpose glass jars

I have already given you plenty of ideas to reuse mason jars, and turning them into a gift is one of them! I believe they are beautiful and worth reusing. Personally, I’m a confessed mason jar hoarder, but I’m glad I am, because I always find opportunities to reuse them, and gifts are an example. This idea works wonderfully for smaller gifts or for DIY gifts, like ‘cookie mix in a jar’ or homemade body scrub.

7. REUSE OLD MAPS

I’m a 90s girl, so this might sound more viable to me than to younger people who might not use printed maps anymore. I used to have old maps at home in Buenos Aires, the ones I used for my geography classes. Eventually, they become obsolete and are stored. This might be a personal impression, but I find maps to be so incredibly beautiful. They aren’t only aesthetically pleasing, but they allow our minds to encompass the world’s immensity with just one glimpse. For this reason, I think they would make a great eco-friendly gift wrap.

8. RECYCLE PAPER

There are ways in which you can make your own recycled paper at home, with scraps of used paper you can collect from the office, family, or your own house. For this endeavor, you will need used paper, a pair of scissors, a plastic netted piece, a cloth, and a large bowl. It can be a fun one-time DIY project, or you can turn it into a hobby and save the used and forgotten papers of the world! This way you can grab paper from ideas #2 and #5 and make a whole new piece of recycled paper that is pretty, thoughtful, and eco-friendly.

Assuming that you aren’t the creative/crafty person you need to be for some of these tasks, or that the ideas in this post aren’t feasible for you, and you decide to buy a new bag or paper to wrap your gift, try to at least buy a recycled alternative. This way you make sure that you aren’t supporting products made with virgin materials, and are still adhering to the Rs of Sustainability.

Do you usually wrap your gifts in a sustainable way? Which one of these eco-ideas is your favorite? 

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Hi, I’m Melina,

I’m the creator of Sustainable Rookie, and my goal is to share what I learn throughout my sustainability journey, so that I can help other people live a more conscious life.

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