Holiday Gift Wrapping Ideas: Easy, Eco-Friendly

With presents comes wrapping each and every year. Of course, time is of the essence and you may also want to consider being eco-friendly this year too. Here are some quick, easy, eco-friendly ideas to make your holiday gift wrapping a cinch this year!

1. To decorate a cardboard tube that may hold anything from a poster to a fishing pole, wrap plain white butcher paper around the tube and then make it into a candy cane stick by adding a wide red ribbon that is wrapped around the tube. Use a glue stick or glue gun to stick the ribbon ends at the top and bottom of the tube. Really festive!

2. Use a large, flat envelope to place a book or puzzle inside. On the outside, decorate the envelope with a wintry scene, perhaps a blue background with a white snowman. Make the snowman using cotton balls and chocolate chips for the eyes. Perfect for the flat, envelope-sized gifts.

3. Wrap a little special gift in a small box, and place this in a very large box (the larger the better!). Surround the small box with all sorts of colorful tissue paper, perhaps red and green or silver and white. The large box can be wrapped in a large wool blanket! A great way to use what you have around your home, create anticipation, and get creative!

4. As an alternative to using peanuts and bubble wrap to cushion your goods, use soft pine needles gathered up in your own yard. The filler will smell great and is very eco-friendly. Or use the filling from old pillows as an alternative.

5. Keep your favorite holiday cards and use them as gift tags for this year’s presents. A great use for last year’s holiday cards and adds a festive touch. One thing to note: make sure that the back of the holiday picture does not have writing on it, so you can write your To and From and greeting.

6. Use plain brown paper to wrap your gifts. Add a pine cone and/or bright colored ribbons to spruce it up. Also, your kids can take potatoes and make festive stamps like a star, to stamp all over the brown paper wrap using a red or green Tempura paint. This is really quite an inexpensive way to wrap and offers creative fun for the kids too.