Gift Wrapping Paper Alternatives

Do you ever begrudge the dollars it costs to purchase expensive gift wrapping paper whose sole purpose is to be screwed up ripped off and discarded and in most cases not even noticed. Well I know that I do particularly at Christmas time when there’s usually a lot of gift wrapping paper to purchase then you really notice the cost, not to mention the needless waste the gift wrapping paper creates that has to be sent to our landfills because some gift wrapping paper because of what its coated in can’t even be recycled. Here are over 50 alternatives to buying expensive gift wrapping paper all just as nice some even better than purchased gift wrapping paper.

Reuse old gift wrapping paper

1) Piece together used or small left over pieces of gift wrap kind of a patch work quilt effect it looks better if all your colors are in the same color theme. but is attractive even if its not

2)  Alternate gift wrapping paper  pieces like on a chess board or cut the wrapping paper into strips and weave them together. All it takes is a little tape or a glue stick and a little patience. Okay, maybe a lot of patience – but if you’re crafty, you’ll love this idea and it looks stunning here is a tutorial

3) If you’re not up to patch working or weaving pieces of gift wrap how about decoupage a box from the blue bin with scraps of left over gift wrapping paper and creating your own gift box

4) If it’s a large heavy gift, collage a larger box add nylon rope handles and present in the same way you would a gift bag

5) Use Old newspapers instead of gift wrapping paper I actually like old regular black and white news print with some added decoration, use paints or markers or stamps, can be great for occupying the kids and  an easy way to gift wrap children’s gifts. If you give the news print it a quick spray with hair spay (alcohol based) it fixes the ink and stops it from transferring onto the gift can also be used for magazine print.

6) Use  magazines instead of purchasing wrapping paper use whole pages or cut out flowers ,cars blank pieces of solid color to use as decorative pieces on plain papers.

7) Or use colorful store flyers, in the same way

8 ) Use the funnies from the Sunday paper the cartoons are often in color and make a great gift wrapping paper alternative for men or children.

9) Another great free gift wrapping paper find ,for boys of all ages are the free trucking papers and magazines found at truck stops displaying the big rigs.

10) Similarly use old maps as gift wrap either from an old map book or the tourist or state maps that you pick up at visitor centers or rest stops along most big highways. Not suggesting you should take them just to use as gift wrapping paper but usually people on trips acquire them as a part of their trip , my husband does but then he’s a trucker.

11) Pages from old telephone directories white pages or yellow or both make wonderful and plentiful alternative gift wrap, add color with markers ,paint ,stamps ,make a potato stamp or use leaves to print a design this is for fabric but can just as easily be used for on paper.

12) Use old seed and bulb catalog pages, especially appealing to gardeners instead of buying flower themed gift wrapping paper

13)Another great idea for gardeners and gardening gifts is to gather the gift into a piece of window screening mesh the nylon not the metal kind just as you would a piece of fabric and fasten it together with some garden ties or string add other pieces of out door embellishments to it such as leaves or dried flowers creates a wonderful natural looking gift bag

14) Consider old paper shopping bags, cut flat, and reversed so store logos don’t show an ingenious free gift wrapping paper

15) Or use  brown paper lunch bags to wrap smaller gifts in the same way

16) Don’t forget about re using regular paper gift bags if handles have snapped cut gift bag up and use as wrapping paper

17)Use Last year’s calendar. Several of the glossy photos from last year’s calendar make a beautiful gift wrapping paper, and it’s basically free!

18) Fabric. There are a huge number of sites promoting environmentally-friendly fabric gift bags. Dig through your fabric remnants or old brightly colored clothes that you don’t wear any more and make your own gift bags there’s a simple “how to” here.

If you’re in a rush, or don’t or can’t sew you can trim the raw edges of the fabric and gather the loose ends up in to an elastic band and tie with a ribbon looks just as good as the premade fabric gift bags and the recipient can use the unsewn fabric piece for what ever they like

19) If you’re stuck on the idea of  gift bags consider using a clean old pillow case as a gift bag

20) Or a cheap dollar store new one can be utilized as a gift bag these gift bags can also be reused by the recipient, or passed on to others, great no sew alternative to gift wrapping paper

21) Other dollar store or charity store items you can use as gift wrapping paper alternatives are brightly colored silk scarves

22) or bandannas,

23) Tea towels,

24) Hand towels,

25) Handkerchiefs

26) Or place mats

27) or napkins

28) Mesh laundry bags

29) Patterned boxes or tins. These will cost you but they can be reused year after year. unlike gift wrapping paper just add a ribbon.

30) Make use of old greeting or post cards. For gift tags to add to your fabric gift bags

Or carefully glue them together design facing out, creating envelopes for Cds and Dvds or small jewelry items.

31) Use Silver foil instead of gift wrapping paper doesn’t even need tape

32) Other kitchen items can also be used such as rolls of butcher’s paper

33) Brown paper (packages tied up with string these are a few of……sorry getting carried away there)

34) Grease proof paper I once received a gift wrapped in two sheets of grease proof in between were layered dried flowers, the flowers were held in place by the wax on the paper as they had been heated with an iron, the package was wrapped with raffia through the raffia was placed a couple of twigs attached to the twigs were more dried flowers I think its probably the nicest presented gift I have ever received

35) Turn potato chip bags inside out so foil is on the outside use to gift wrap small gifts.

36)Bin bags yes I did say garbage bags I meant the smaller white kind not the black ones but even those if attractively presented with gold stickers and a gold ribbon would look quite attractive plastic gift bag in place of gift wrapping paper

37) How about fusing regular carrier bags together (we’ve all seen the tutorial) and using it as gift wrapping paper it’s even reusable, and if you get really good you can even add to your wardrobe

38)2/2 liter pop bottles cut them just before the neck narrows put gift item inside one and seal it by pushing one bottle inside the other bottle and decorate or add homemade confetti.

39)all those pieces of very colorful art work that come home from school that can only spend so long on the limited gallery space your fridge has to offer keep them and use them to gift wrap  gifts for relatives they will love it and your kids will love it too

40) You can use coloring book pages in a similar way

41) The brightly colored construction paper we often buy for our children can also be used as gift wrapping paper.

42) Wrap your gifts in wallpaper very often you can pick these up at 50c a roll at garage sales or flea markets the ones I particularly look out for are the white embossed kind gives so many decorating possibilities and so many other craft uses, not just as wrapping paper.

43) Another good source of colorful free gift wrapping paper  are old posters either ones your teen doesn’t want anymore or old movie or travel posters that stores often give away.

44) Old sheets of music

45) Blue prints or building plans

46) Schematic diagrams, technical drawings, electrical diagrams all make interesting gift wrapping paper

47) Pages from old books such as encyclopedias and dictionaries

48) Pages from cross word books and word search puzzles used or other wise

49) The brightly colored plastic play mats table top or floor size you get with the kids dollar store games such as snakes and ladders, bingo or sometimes with toy cars serve as great gift wrapping paper alternatives for gifts for children.

50) Pages from brightly colored damaged children s picture books also serve as great gift wrapping paper alternatives for gifts for children.

51) Empty but dusted off product packaging such as sugar, flour and cookie bags or the bags our cereals come in inside the box. I kind of like this it’s a bit like velum. all can be utilized as either gift bags or gift wrapping paper for small gifts

52) And last but by no means least you can always design and print out your own gift wrapping paper on your printer.

Related Posts:

• St Patricks Day Quilled Gift box Tutorial(made with blue bin items)
• A Gift For Mothers Day (Quilling Tutorial)
• One Womans Trash Is Another Womans Treasure
• Quilling Roses the Easy Way
• Art and Craft Supplies , Free / Low Cost part 1

Tagged as: recycling, tutorial