It’s officially time to start buying gifts, wrapping them up and getting ahead of all the holiday stress. I never realized before I started to get into this Sustainable journey , but oh my gosh is there a lot of waste that happens during this time of year!  Don’t you just hate to see all that paper ripped up and thrown immediately in the trash after a gift is open? Imagine the piles of trash just the ribbon alone and bows make! It’s scary to think about really.

Did you know that all those pretty, glossy, glittery and shiny papers we normally use are filled with plastic, made mostly in China and can’t be recycled? I honestly never thought of that before this year. Of course, you still want your gift to be presented with love and care so what can do to keep it sustainable, but still pretty to look at? Here’s a list of chic gift wrapping ideas that are sustainable, eco-friendly and cost-effective. The good news is that you can get as crafty or not as you want to!

Newspaper

 This idea is such an obvious choice. Newspapers always make for some cool wrapping! You know you were just going to recycle your paper anyway right? A friend of mine recently told me he had an uncle who would always wrap his gifts with the funny/comic section of the newspaper when he was little and he always loved it. I think that’s such a cute idea for kids (or adults even) and looks different.

Plants with Twine

 Instead of a bow, I love to use plants for a gift topper. I think it’s so fresh and always makes people happy and just always looks like you put some love into it. You can cut pieces off from your Christmas tree, cut some filler green from a bouquet you have around your house or use some cuttings from your garden. I like to use lavender from the herb pots we have or go buy a bouquet of small flowers and use the flowers for the gifts.

DIY Plantable Flower Seed Paper

I found this idea when researching this and oh my gosh it’s such a cool idea! It’s a fun DIY and makes for another extra gift with the gift you are giving. Win/win. READ HOW TO MAKE  YOUR OWN FLOWER SEED PAPER HERE.

Reusable wrapping bags

Stretchy reusable gift bags are so easy! I love these because the person receiving the gift can always repurpose it for something else.  Lilywrap on Amazon has some good eco-friendly options so check her out! Another idea is to repurpose recyclable tote bags.  Whenever I go to Blogger events I get tote bags and I always store them all in a box in my closet for moments like this. If you have the right gift and the right tote, it can work out great.

Fabric

Using old fabric is such a genius idea. I’m sure you have an old scarf, t-shirt or sweater that you don’t use anymore right? Time to give it a purpose! You can always use the fabric to wrap, tie or just roll the gift up in. Did you know there’s a whole Japanese art to repurposed fabric wrapping? I didn’t until now and I was doing research on this topic! It’s called Furoshiki. Here’s a post I found on what it is and how to do it. If you don’t have any fabric lying around you can also just buy this here.

Boxes

A lot of us have boxes lying around the house. Shoe boxes, old packages, old gifts. You can find these and decorate just the outside with twine, plants or pretty non-toxic paints. I currently have so many boxes just lying around. I’m definitely going to get crafty this month!

Biodegradable or recycled options

If you don’t want to make anything at home, simply searching for the right materials is good enough! Make sure to choose the recycled materials or anything that is biodegradable instead of the typical glossy, patterned glittery packaging. Little steps go a long way! Keep it simple but significant.

Hope you enjoyed this post! If you do end up doing a sustainable gift wrapping idea that you got from this page, I would love to see it! Make sure to take a pic and tag me via your IG stories (@frankvinyl) and I will repost it to my stories. Happy Holidays everyone!

For more Holiday posts (like my eco-friendly gift guide post and more) check out my HOLIDAYS category page.

xx Francesca