Gift Wrapping Ideas to Make the Gifts Look Stunning, Fashionable and Modish When Gifting Using Eco-Friendly and Recycled Materials. (2021).

If you’re among those few people who care for the planet, concerned about the rising pollution levels, oceans getting flooded with plastics, poor waste management, and choked water bodies; then you should definitely consider gift wrapping using the recycled materials as one of the environment-friendly initiatives. As eco-friendly packing materials are often more expensive than ordinary gift wrapping stuff; recycled materials are a nice, eco-friendly, and readily available option for gift wrapping. Few mention-worthy benefits of gift wrapping using recycled materials include –

You would require a few basic tools and materials for wrapping your gifts beautifully and perfectly using recycled materials. The commonly used tools are – Scissors (for cutting papers and fabric, etc), glue and tape (to stick and fasten the sides and ends of the wrapping), colored pens (for handwritten messages and drawings, etc), eyelet punchers (for securing the holes) and few materials from your storeroom like bottle lids, tin cans, bubble wrap which comes with many electronic and electrical items, plastic bottles (with recycling number 1 marked below the bottle), etc.

You can also use old household items like old tea or coffee mugs, picture frames, saucers, or vases and use your creativity to use these items as and when suitable to use while wrapping a gift.

Now let’s explore a few gift wrapping ideas using recycled materials with simple items that are lying in your house and you generally either throw them away or sell them to the local scrap dealer.

The humble newspaper which is new and old the same day keeps lying in the storeroom until you sell the heap to your local scrap dealer. Made from recycled paper, you can use the attractive and colorful pages of your newspaper as wrapping paper for gifts. The Sunday morning comic section, that multicolor and attractive advertisement on the glossy supplementary magazine or just the plain black and white section for a classy look; you can wrap medium and large gifts easily with a newspaper, use some creativity, write something catchy, tie a plane ribbon or use glitters, stickers, etc, to make it look attractive. But make sure that the newspaper you’re using is not crumbled or dirty.

A toilet paper roll (the inner brown part on which the paper is coiled) often goes into the bin, but what you thought was worthless can be used as a gift pack for small gift items. You can decorate a simple roll of toilet paper using your creativity and imagination using crayons, stickers, etc. Fold one end of the roll inwards, keep the small gift inside it, now fold the other end in the same manner and decorate with laces, leftover wrapping paper, or bottle caps. You can also use a small sticky to write your messages for the recipient and stick them using glue or tape on one wall of the toilet paper roll.

Ever wondered what to do with those beautiful paper bags in which you received the clothes when you went shopping at a mall. These paper bags are medium to large-sized and you can use them to keep your gift and decorate using glitters, paint, stickers, ornaments, etc. Wrapping your gift in these shopping bags is a nice idea to use recycled materials as these bags have no tape, metal, or plastic in them. Make sure that you have kept the bags carefully else the crinkles and spots may spoil the appeal of the shopping bags. In addition, jute or cotton bags also make for an eco-friendly option for wrapping your gifts.

Gift wrapping in fabric is a centuries-old technique and it’s still popular in Japan where it’s known as Furoshiki. Just like wrapping paper, the fabric is also available in many different designs, patterns, and colors; and the best part is that you can alter, cut, and mold it as per the size of your gift. Look for old pillow covers, curtains, sofa covers, towels, tablecloths, and even socks that can be used for small size gifts. You can also use your old saree, trousers, dupatta, and Kurti as well. Shirt sleeves can be used for wrapping wine bottles; simply cut the sleeve according to the size of the bottle and sew it from the open end. Now you can either close the buttons, use a ribbon or an old tie to give a classy look to your gift wrapping. You can also paint it and give it a fresh look.

We often get attractive boxes when we buy staples like cereals, chocolates, cakes, cookies, and other food items. Generally, these boxes go into the trash, but next time consider keeping them safely in your storeroom as these are made from recycled materials and make for an excellent gift wrapping option. You can use small to large size boxes for various gifting needs. Keep your gift in the box, close it, and paste a folded recycled paper or newspaper around it. Then you can either keep it in a cotton or paper bag or decorate the box with ribbons, crayons, etc. Also, you can keep one end of the box open, pierce to make two holes on each side of the box (at approx the same distance), enter a jute string, and tie it to make a gift bag.

Next time when your delivered to groceries from Amazon, don’t throw the brown paper in which the staples are safely packed. Instead, you can use brown paper to wrap your gifts or make paper bags with the help of glue, eyelets, scissors, and decorate them using colors, stickers, and use crayons to make drawings or write a message. You can also create a simple brown bag with a pair of strings on top to hold the bag and tie a sober bow made from ribbon to give it a classy look.

You have many old books lying on the bookshelf that you’re planning to sell in scrap! Well, a few pages from those classics can make for a nice gift wrap. You can wrap small items directly into these pages and close them with glue and ribbon. For medium-sized gift items, the glossy pages from magazines can be used to make paper bags by folding the sides and sticking them using paper glue, let them dry for a while, and then punch holes at the top, secure with eyelets, and use strings to make two handles. Let your creative juices do some work while you make drawings, paint, or use embellishments to make it look attractive.

Children are quite creative and their drawing book is often flooded with beautiful art. Few children want to keep their drawing books forever while some of them wouldn’t bother about them till the next session of their school, but every child likes to be appreciated for the good work they have done. When you use children’s artwork pages for gift wrapping, everyone would talk about it at the party and your child will also feel good that his drawing is getting recognition. Moreover, you spread the message about using recycled materials for gift wrapping in a creative way.

Cereal boxes, those big sized cardboard boxes in which the breakfast cereals are packed is a wise option for packing large gift items. The method of gift wrapping using cereal boxes is quite easy. Firstly, remove the flaps from all four sides at the top with the help of a scissor or paper-knife. Now use newspapers, pages of magazines, or old wrapping paper to cover the base and all the sides using glue. Pierce two holes about 1 inch below from the top on both the sides of the open end and secure all four holes with eyelets. Now enter strings of equal length on both sides and tie them separately to make the handle of the bag.

Jars which you get with jam, pickles, chutneys, syrups, and sauce, etc, can look beautiful if decorated aesthetically. These jars are an eco-friendly option for wrapping a gift using recycled material and the recipient can keep it as a memoir because it makes for a nice showpiece as well when decorated skillfully. You can make customized handmade labels for the host using white paper. Few colored crayons, nice drawings, messages, and little creativity is all you need to turn a plain jar into an eye-catching gift wrap.

Your calendars change every year, so instead of trashing them out, you can use the large colorful sheets to wrap your gifts, tie a bow using some satin or laces, and your no-frills gift wrap using recycled material is ready. So, next time during the year-end, roll back the old calendars and keep them safely so that you can use them for gift wraps. Similarly, paper maps are getting obsolete as we have Google maps to tell you the direction of every nook and corner. They would look different and classic as a gift wrap paper for gifting on small occasions. You can simply use them as wrapping paper and tie a ribbon or jute string around with a small label with your message and that would complete the wrapping.

Next time when you bring bread from your local bakery, don’t throw the paper bread bags as they can be used as gift wrapping paper which is being made using recycled material. They add a rustic effect to the wrapping and you can remove the wrinkles by simply keeping them in the middle of books or beneath your mattress. Just slide the gift in the bag, fold the upper part, and paste using glue. Tie using wooden clothespins, make some interesting drawings or designs on the paper, and you can also decorate using flowers or sprigs.

Don’t throw away your old scarves, but you can use them as a gift wrap while gifting on small occasions like birthday parties, get-togethers, or anniversary parties. You can beautifully wrap a square scarf around a box and tie a flower, a best wishes card, ornaments, or other embellishments on the knot to make it look more attractive. You can also use more than one scarf to wrap a large gift by using your creativity, a few old papers, glue, scissors, crayons, and paints, etc.

You bought a few colored paper-cups for the last party, and you didn’t throw the remaining paper-cups as you wanted to wait for the right opportunity to use them! Well, you can use it as a gift wrap for the next party to which you’re being invited. Simply cut away the top edge of the glass, create a few tabs by cutting perpendicularly to around 1-1.5 inches, and bend those tabs inwards. Now decorate the paper cup as per your wish and keep any small gift item in it.