How to Recycle Your Used Christmas Gift Wrap

Most of us believe that gift wrap and wrapping paper is fully recyclable at the curbside. While regular paper gift wrap can be recycled, tissue paper, flocked, glittered or foil paper can not be recycled and must be thrown out along with all those pretty bows.

At our house, everything must find a second use before getting thrown out or recycled. How do we find new uses for old gift wrap?

Use it again!

Every family has an elderly relative that's quick to shriek out "Save that wrapping paper!" In our family, I'm the guilty one who hollers at every one to save the gift wrap so it can be used next year. I'm so good at saving paper in fact, that I haven't bought any new wrapping paper in oh, about 6 years.

Wrapping paper that has been gently taken off the box can be rolled around a tube and saved for another holiday. Don't like some of the creases? Not to worry! Most gift wrap can be ironed on the reverse side using a low setting. The creases will lift right out and the paper will look almost as good as new.

Craft with it

Don't like the idea of reusing old wrapping paper on next year's gifts? Try crafting with it instead. That old wrapping paper can be used for all sorts of fun winter activities that can keep the kids engaged while snowbound indoors.

Old wrapping paper and gift bows are wonderful materials for scrap booking and other paper crafts. We also use old Christmas wrap for paper mache projects, origami, making snowflakes, and even as book covers.

For those who enjoy jewelry making, Christmas wrap can also be used for making paper beads. Follow these instructions for making your own dazzling assortment of earth friendly paper beads.

Christmas gift wrap can also be used to decoupage trinket or cookie boxes to be given away the following year. My daughter decoupages paper pencil boxes with gift wrap to create one of a kind Holiday containers. Old gift wrap can also be used to create a Holiday picture frame; an ideal way to frame those Holiday snapshots. To create a paper frame, simply decoupage scraps of gift wrap & magazine pictures over a cardboard frame, as illustrated.

Donate it

Kindergarten and art teachers always have use for old wrapping paper and ribbons. If I find myself with more paper than I really need, I merely press the paper flat with an iron, fold it gently, then pass it along to one of the teachers at my child's school.

By following these ideas, you discover that Christmas wrapping paper has so many more uses than just wrapping presents.