When it comes to Christmas, presents are a pivotal part of the holiday. And although it’s fun to wrap all of those perfect gifts up in glittery, decorated paper, most of that wrapping paper will take over landfills by New Year’s Day. However, you can decrease this unnecessary influx of waste by wrapping your Christmas gifts in eco-friendly and recyclable packaging. Here are 5 methods to do just that!
1. Use Newspaper
We receive a lot of “junk” mail and newspapers that mostly end up in the garbage. These materials are recyclable, though, and we can get more use out of them before putting them in the recycling circuit. If you have lots of newspaper lying around, use it as gift wrapping material this year!
2. Try Out Cloth
Another eco-friendly way to wrap Christmas gifts is to use cloth. In fact, this method is actually very similar to Furoshiki, the Japanese practice of wrapping gifts using a traditional Japanese cloth. It is a pretty straightforward way to wrap gifts, but the material can be reused time and time again to conceal gifts. My sister used to do this for Christmas growing up, and she would take belts or ties to keep the cloth wrapped around the gifts.
3. Break Out The Tin
Of course, wrapping paper isn’t the only way to conceal your presents. In fact, you can use tin boxes, which are available at lots of dollar stores.These boxes can be reused frequently and for a multitude of purposes beyond Christmas gifts. This makes tin boxes the perfect option for eco-friendly “wrapping” material for presents.
4. Create Beautiful Baskets
In the same vein as tin boxes, you can also use baskets for gifts. This is becoming a popular trend on TikTok right now. If you go to any thrift store, there are multitudes of wicker baskets that are really cheap. They make the perfect gift carrier and make the gift assortment look very classy. Of course, you will need to wrap the item(s) in some material. I suggest using newspaper or cloth as stated above. The basket can be used by your family or friend after Christmas to hold fruit, keys, or anything else.
5. Buy Recyclable Products
Lastly, you can simply keep an eye out for wrapping paper that’s actually recyclable. The ones with a lot of glitter are typically not, but if you read the label then you can generally find some recyclable store-bought wrapping paper. This is probably the easiest method, but it still does require you to go out and purchase wrapping paper.
Christmas is a wonderful time of year. And while the holiday will definitely make a permanent mark in your photo album, it does not have to make a permanent mark on the planet. You can easily make sure that your presents are wrapped in such a way to keep unnecessary materials out of the landfill. Have a Merry Christmas and help keep this planet safe!
Feature Image by freestocks.org from Pexels
Good article! Thank you very much for providing so many different options of sustainable gift wrap ideas!! Absolutely love it!