Green Calgary

Sustainable Gift Giving - Part 1: Alternative Gift Wrapping Ideas

With the holidays quickly sneaking up on us, we held our monthly Healthy Homes Sustainability Series on Sustianable Gift Giving. A workshop focused on gifts that are simple, cost effective and unique, it was an evening filled with and great ideas, lots of smilesand a ton of information presented  so we thought it would be great to share it with all of you on the blog. Todays entry is all about alternative gift wrapping ideas- we know that traditional gift wrap is offten non-recyclable, (and expensive) and all the gift tags, ribbon and decorations associated with wrapping presents can create a serious amount of waste going to the landfill, so we put together a few ideas that will mimize the impace on the environment while still looking beautiful. If you think about the packaging on your gift as part of the the gift itself, it will often dramatically change how and what you use to wrap your gifts.

Alternative Gift Wrapping Ideas

• Gift bags – Make your own fabric giftbags or reuse old gift bags or good quality paper bags from retail stores. Baskets work well for this too.
• Clothe wrapping ‘paper’ made form natural fibres like burlap or cotton - easily reused for many presents to come
• Japanese furoshiki wraps - any scrap fabric, repurposed scarves (a gift in iteself!), clothe napkins or tea towels will all work wonderfully for this.
• Brown craft paper - made of recycled content, unbleached and easily reusable and recyclable materis. You could also use paper grocery bags cut and turned inside out
• Newspaper (think of how beautiful day-old Chineses newsprint from China town would look!),
• Old maps, phonebook pages or sheet music etc… all make for great alternatives to glittery non-recyclable and often expensive gift wrap.
• Mason jars are inexpensive and are great for gift giving- they make a beautiful container for baking or gift of food (my favourite is soup!) or toss in some fabric or paper scraps and ‘wrap’ small presents, gift cards or money
• Skip the wrapping all together and opt for a scavenger hunt with sentimental clues!

• Use stamps (why not try a simple potato stamp?) to imprint bags, plain fiber wraps or paper. Simple graphic patterns in a festive colour can go a long way for prettying up even the plainest of packages
• Save remnants of yarn, ribbons from gifts you have received (or crave cupcakes?), or use natural fiber jute or hemp twine (these can both be composted!) as ties for your pretty little packages.
  (Store and save remnants on clothespins for easy storage and tangle-free organization)
• Rethink produce packaging- use mesh bags from onions, avocados or garlic as a pretty decoration on a simple box.
• Use repurposed Christmas ornaments as a pretty addition to your package, or find a beautiful ornament to give as part of your gift and add it to the outside of the package. (Ten thousand villages always has an amazing collection of unique, fair-trade ornaments for sale)
• In gift bags, rather than using a whole bunch of tissue paper, try old newsprint and a sheet or two of coloured tissue- you will be surprised at the impact a small block of colour can have!

• Write or paint the recipients name directly on the package. Large block writing can become a great decoration to an otherwise simple package
• Use small scraps of fabric that would otherwise be useless as a gift tag.
• Use scrap paper to cut a block letter of the first initial of the recipient's name. Again, this adds a pretty decorative element as well as a personalized touch.
• Clothes pins look cute, but can also serve as a gift tag- write the recipients name directly on them, or use a small scrap of paper to attach to it
• Use old maps or sheet music and cut simple shapes to use as tags- think squares, hearts or circles.

• As an alternative to packing peanuts and bubble wrap, why not use air popped popcorn, shredded newspaper, cedar boughs, or raw peanuts with the shell still on
• Instead of wrapping each present inside a parcel, why not wrap the parcel it self? Imagine the excitement of picking up a beautifully wrapped package from Canada post with a note saying not to open until Christmas! (I like to think the postal workers get a smile from it too!)

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