As we enter the gift-giving season, you may find yourself thinking about going "green" with your gift wrapping. This simply means honing in on ways to maximize your dollar while using environmentally friendly gift wrapping techniques. 

You can be both creative and environmentally conscious when gift wrapping if you take a look at materials that you might otherwise take for granted.

Newspaper

You can use any section of a newspaper. If you are interested in adding more color to your gift, you can easily cut a few colorful strips from the circulars that are stashed in the center of the newspaper. You can even make origami shapes out of the newspaper in order to add fun holiday flair to your gift wrap.

Fabric

 Another idea for holiday gift wrapping is to use biodegradable fabric. Examples include bamboo fiber fabric, jute, bag fabric, and non-woven fabrics. The great thing about biodegradable fabric is that it can be used as a gift wrap or a gift bag. 

If you decide to use the fabric as a gift bag, you can either sew it together or use a product called Stitch Witchery to create a long lasting bond without sewing. Either way will prove to be cost effective and environmentally friendly.

In addition to the biodegradable fabrics, you can opt to use a more practical fabric such as burlap. The good thing about burlap is that it is completely reusable. If you decide to make gift bags out of burlap, it is a strong and durable fabric that is versatile and can be used for just about anything. You can paint on it or sew various designs on it.  

Brown Paper Bags

Reverting back to paper as a possible creative gift wrapping material, a brown paper bag can also be used. Whether a lunch bag or a grocery bag, the brown paper bag can easily be used to make an amazingly creative form of gift wrapping paper. The good thing about a brown paper bag is that it can be decorated in a host of ways. Color can be added either through watercolor paints, crayons, colored pencils or markers.  Stencils can also be used in order to create an artistic masterpiece that can double as gift wrap.

Wood

One material that is commonly overlooked when it comes to wrapping gifts is wood. Taking a trip to the local craft store (such as Michaels) can prove to be a most exciting adventure when it comes to searching for craft wood. More often than not, the wood that will be readily available at the craft store will be popsicle sticks. However, you may find that there is a lighter type of wood often used for arts and crafts. It is simply called "craft wood."

When using craft wood as gift wrap you may find that it is easier to use it when making a small gift box. The fun thing about craft wood is that it is completely recyclable and can be used with fabrics and paper.  



Share Your Ideas!

If you have a "green" tip for wrapping gifts, we hope you'll share it with us. To upload photos directly to Patch, click on "Add" next to the line under the photo (to the right) that says: "Your photos, videos & PDFs." Note that you must be logged into the site to upload photos. Leave us a comment with all of the specifics to re-create your look.