Green, Eco-Friendly Gift Wrap Tips

Exchanging gifts during the holiday season is a long-held tradition. Giving Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Winter Solstice gifts is a way to show the people in our lives that we care and think about them. Now you can make your gifts even more thoughtful and meaningful by using eco-friendly gift wrap options that the recipient can reuse.

Reusable shopping totes as gift bags - My favorite eco-friendly, green gift wrap option (and what I plan to do with all my Christmas gifts this year) is using reusable shopping totes as gift bags. They come in a variety of sizes and designs and are a great way to make an environmental statement, give a gift that keeps on giving and avoid using disposable gift wrapping paper or gift bags. The most eco-friendly option is to purchase reusable shopping totes made from reclaimed materials (or to make them yourself), but any reusable tote is a much greener and better idea than traditional, wasteful paper gift bags. Using reusable shopping totes as gift bags is also a great way to encourage your friends and family to get a little greener.

Reusable gift baskets - You don't have to create and arrange an entire gift basket in order to use baskets as a gift wrap option. Even a single-item gift will have added value and a prettier presentation when placed in a reusable basket. The best option would be to purchase baskets made from eco-harvested materials, but if your budget won't allow this, picking up some inexpensive baskets at a dollar or discount store is still a better option than traditional disposable gift wrapping paper or gift bags. Use recycled and recyclable materials as filler - or, better yet, line the basket with something that can be reused like a kitchen towel or dishtowel. I mean, who couldn't use more kitchen towels?

Knit, crochet or sew reusable gift bags - Sewing up some simple reusable totes to use as gift bags is a great way to use up leftover fabric or other reclaimed material. If you don't have any fabric on hand, check out your local craft thrift store or furniture stores for discontinued upholstery swatch books. Upholstery swatches are great for lots of sewing projects and are the perfect size to reclaim and recycle into gift bags. Tons of easy tote bag patterns are available online and your gift recipient will be able to reuse the gift tote as a shopping bag or tote bag. Alternatively, you can knit or crochet gift bags that can be reused as market bags, given again as gift bags or that do double duty as a purse or storage bag. If you don't know how to knit or crochet, you can still whip up reusable knit gift bags like a pro with easy-to-use knitting looms available at your local craft store.

Get creative with towels, fabric, yarn and twine - I love the idea of gift wrap that is actually a gift, which is exactly what you get with all of these eco-friendly, reusable gift wrap options. Another of my favorites is using functional items - like kitchen towels - to wrap gifts. Simply place the gift in the center of the towel, lift all the sides and pull together at the top, then add yarn, twine, hemp cord or a ribbon to tie the wrapping together. For larger items or gifts in boxes that you want to cover, wrap them up (like you would with gift wrapping paper) in a fun reusable piece of fabric and tie with twine or hemp for a fun, colorful and completely reusable gift wrap option.

Additional Eco-Friendly Gift Wrap Tips

If you attend a family gathering or office party that includes a gift exchange, volunteer to be in charge of collecting discarded wrapping paper and gift bags. This way you know that it won't just end up being tossed out with the trash and you can sort through it to determine what is reusable or recyclable. You might even end up with some free gift wrapping paper or gift bags that you can reuse for your own gift giving.

If you absolutely must use regular paper gift bags at least try to get gift bags made from recycled paper and make sure to leave the attached gift card blank so the recipient can reuse the gift bag and keep it in circulation.

Remember when you were a kid and you would get gifts wrapped in the comic pages of your local newspaper? With recycled and reclaimed materials being all the rage these days, recycling your newspaper into gift wrapping paper is back in fashion. This is a fun, colorful way to wrap gifts for children or anyone on your Christmas list and allows for at least one more use before your newspaper ends up in the recycling bin.