Useful extras
December 15, 2008
Wrap it up...responsibly
Challenge Yourself for: 24 Hours
Discarded newspaper, comic strips, clean used aluminum foil, notepaper…there are many ways to wrap a gift attractively without using new paper. This weekend, challenge yourself to create the ultimate reusable gift-wrap box. Here are some tips to get you started:
• Fill the box with scraps like those listed above, plus scissors and tape.
• When you receive presents, immediately place gift bags, ribbons and bows in the box.
• Cut torn wrapping into small pieces to use as cards.
• Save packing “peanuts” and other such materials to use as gift stuffing.
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we always save those nice gift bags for gifts, just this weekend we gave a birthday present to my mom and we all laughed the bag has went through the family for many birthdays .... the gift is new … just the bag is regifted … but we are trying to be creative with being green
Suezy is so right. I started using gift bags, too. Plus, they are economical since they can be reused!
My wife and I love to save beautiful ribbons from gifts we receive. Once received we restore them to the best possible original look and reuse them to give gifts to others. Sometimes we even change them a bit to make them look just a little different (in case we accidentally give them back to the person that sent them to us).
Another, is we use nice looking boxes to reshape, glue together and make little envelopes for gift cards we give away.
I’m still stuck back in the days I inherited from my Pennsylvania Dutch grandmother. She used to keep any old wrapping paper from gifts she received, neatly folded, and reuse it every year – and I still do that (my grandma used to actually iron the paper out with a cool iron – I have to say I don’t really do THAT anymore). We also always just folded up and kept any kind of wrapping or stuffing paper that was pretty (the colored paper they used to stuff new purses with was a great source!) – we had a special box that we kept it in all year long till it was needed for a holiday or birthday.
I haven’t started wrapping my gifts yet, so I still have an opportunity to do this. I have lots of things around the house that I could use, so I’ll have to go on a hunt tonight to come up with some unique ways to wrap my gift. I have lots of paper bags that have accumulated that might make the perfect background… it’ll save me on having to go shopping for rolls of paper!
I got my parents each a book for Christmas, and I wrapped them in pages torn out of a magazine that had pictures or articles of things they like. Then I decorated with some ribbon I had leftover from last year. My brother and sister have their gifts in gift bags so they could reuse them for their friends.
I use the unused portion of holiday cards from years past to wrap gift cards. For gifts, I cut out the front from used holiday cards to do three dimensional wrapping – when I have time. This year I used a Kashi Cereal box!
I get plain gift bags (you can get different colors) and I get Christmas and Holiday themed stickers from the crafts stores, like scrapbooking, and decorate the bags. They can be used again the next year. Just include a seperate name card in it or connected to it. I think they make neat gift bags.