Green Thinking Blog

I know it’s still a little early for holiday talk, but I feel like we’re close enough to Thanksgiving for me to get away with it. So, on to the first of my green holiday blogs about gift wrapping!

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been kinda stumped about how to make my holiday present wrapping less wasteful and more eco-friendly. Of course, we could all forget the wrapping and just hand our gifts right over to family and friends…but where’s the fun in that? It’s all about the surprise! As usual, I did a little research to get some ideas, and here’s what I came up with.

Supplies you have at home:

• Magazines - last year I used pages from some old magazines I had in my apartment to make some funky wrap for presents. It works well on small items like jewelry or gift cards. Look for pretty advertisement pages to get the best looking paper.
• Brown paper bags - if you’re like me, you’ve got a few of these stashed away from the times you forgot to bring your canvas bag to the store. Cut off the bottom and you’ve got sheets of basic brown paper that you can jazz up with accessories.
• Paper shreds - dump out your home or office paper shredder and use the confetti-like pieces as filler in boxes that you have to ship.
• Business cards - do you have a box of old business cards that you’ll never use? Turn them over and use them for gift tags. They’re the perfect size!
• Pine needles - if you’re lucky enough to have pine needles or dried leaves drop in your yard, under your tree, or at a local park nearby, gather some up and use them for a gift box filler. (make sure to rinse and dry it first)

Things you can buy new:

• Recycled and non-wood paper - if you’re looking to buy something new to wrap your presents in, there are some great options out there. These days you can find paper made out of woven grass, tree bark, banana fiber, recycled office paper, silk, and more. Papermojo and Savitris each offer some great earth-friendly and recycled paper options. I also found a fundraising site called Green Raising that has some cute recycled holiday papers for sale.
• Canvas bag or reusable shopping bag - give someone a reusable shopping bag as part of their present. Put your gift inside and use the handles to tie in a bow.
• Tape and shipping materials - try out Green Earth Office Supply for things like tape or boxes. You have to call to order what you want, but they do have a website that lists all their products.
• Yarn - check out your local craft store for yarn or thread made from recycled or all-natural materials like hemp or wool. You can use it to tie bows on your gifts.

Leave me a comment with your own genius creations! Oh, and don’t forget to keep an eye on all the wrapping during your gift exchange with family and friends. There will surely be a few things you can snatch up and save for reuse next year.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 17th, 2008 at 4:34 pm and is filed under Activities, Gifts, Lifestyle, Recycling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.