Recycled Gift Wrap

I love a good looking gift. When someone has given thought and care to how the outside of a gift looks, you know that they have taken time and effort when creating/selecting the gift inside, too.  While I appreciate the look of a wrapped gift, I have grown less than thrilled with the idea of purchasing wrapping materials.  First of all, they can be SO expensive (relatively speaking).  Let's say that you buy a friend a small gift for an occasion and spend $10 on the item--the gift wrap for said item can easily be $3-4 for a bag and tissue paper.  Again, relative to the cost of the gift, that is expensive wrapping.  Second, there is so much paper wasted and thrown away on a daily basis that it seems wrong to buy huge rolls of paper just to be ripped up and thrown away. 

So, what's a gal to do? 

How about making some homemade gift bows like Jessica from How About Orange did here?

These bows were so simple to make and SO stunning--and made from a cut up magazine page!  How clever (and resourceful)!  You probably have everything needed to make them right now, so go and create!  I'll bet your Mother's Day gifts still need wrapped, right?

These take 5-10 minutes each to create out of a magazine page.  It's best to choose a page with minimal writing and a strong color theme.

This is just one piece of tissue paper as wrapping paper--cheap, simple and very nice looking.

You can always use yesterday's news to cover a gift--maybe slightly cheesy, but still appreciated.  I personally like it...  and I have been saving comics for gift wrap for a while, so family members, beware...

You can buy a dozen of these plain ol' brown gift bags at most craft stores for about $4.99--a great alternative to the shiny colorful (and expensive) variety.

My mom has wrapped baby shower gifts in baby blankets and fastened them with those big safety pins for baby diapers, which is both  unique and useful. And I have received gifts before in those green grocery bags, another fabulous idea.  And I know a sentence shouldn't being with "and", but I want to be conversational.  So sue me.

Remember to reuse and repurpose your gift bags.  I am committing to buying no new gift wrapping materials from now until the end of the year (and yes, I realize that this includes Christmas).  Wish me luck!  Any clever ideas to share?  Leave a comment!