How do you know you’ve found the perfect gift wrap? It takes the triple crown of being friendly to the environment, frugal for your budget and fun to give and receive. Here’s a list to get you started that meets all three of these criteria:
Newspaper: Wrap a business related gift in the finance pages, something for a chef in the food advertisements, and athletic gear in the sports page. You can also do just about anything in the Sunday Funnies. To give some pizazz to this gift, tie it up in black or red curling ribbon.
Children’s art work: If you have small children who attend daycare or preschool, chances are they bring home a lot of artwork. As much as you love them and admire their efforts your refrigerator door is only so big. Save these masterpieces in your gift wrap caddy and use them to wrap gifts. This is especially popular with distant grandparents or other relatives who may not see the child on a day to day basis.
Maps: If you’ve taken a road trip recently and no longer want your maps, save them for gift wrap. It’s fun to match this type of wrapping to the gift as well. Maps make great gift wrap for such items as travel mugs or memorabilia from a recent road trip.
Potato chip bags: If you get potato chips in a bag with a shiny inside, turn the bag inside out and wash in hot soapy dishwater. Dry the bag thoroughly and save for a gift-giving occasion. You can use these like gift bags and seal the top with staples, stickers or ribbon for the easiest method. Or, if you prefer, you can cut them open and use flat like any other wrapping paper. One Christmas, I wrapped all my gifts in chip bags tied with gold ribbon and it looked really pretty under the tree.
Old sheet music: This is a creative way to wrap something for the music lover on your list. Of course it’s best for small sized gifts, but you can tape several sheets together for a larger piece.
Part of the gift: As the topic implies, in this case the wrapping is part of the gift. A baby gift can be wrapped in a receiving blanket. Bath and beauty products will look nice wrapped in pretty towels. Items for the kitchen can be wrapped in dishtowels, tablecloths, or aprons. If any part of the gift is, or can be, fairly large and flat, you can use it to wrap. Just secure it in place with safety pins and tie a big ribbon around the whole thing.
“Invisible” wrap: Not really invisible of course. This simply refers to allowing a lovely gift to showcase itself, perhaps with a nice bow or favor attached. Plants are good choices for not wrapping as well as some home décor items. Of course if you want the recipient to have the suspense of unwrapping, this route won’t do, but often it is an excellent choice for attractive presentation.
All the above suggestions are indeed fun, you won’t find wrap like this at department stores. They involve re-using things you already have which is certainly frugal for anyone. The bulk of the wrapping material will either not go into the trash or recycle center, or it was already bound there in the first place. So go ahead and wrap without guilt.
