Inexpensive Gift Wrapping Ideas

The Christmas shopping season has officially begun. There is something special about choosing the perfect gifts for family and friends. We anticipate the look on their faces as they tear open the wrapping paper, the smiles and giggles or laughter that the gifts will generate.

Whether the gifts are bulky or small, expensive or not, part of the fun is wrapping them in our own special way. The good news is that this can be done very inexpensively, allowing you to budget the saved money for other things.

Following are some inexpensive wrapping ideas for those special gifts.

Newspaper Wrapping

This type of wrapping will work great for gifts of all sizes, as the pages can be taped together to form even extra large wrapping for extra large items.

My children's grandmother began wrapping in newspaper when finances were tight, but made it her signature wrapping even when her financial situation improved. When the children saw a newspaper wrapped gift, they knew it was from her.

To begin, you will need to procure newspapers. If you receive daily newspapers at home, start saving them. If not, most offices receive newspapers. If they don't keep them, ask if you may take them home and collect as many as you think you will need for your wrapping needs.

Make it personal.

If the recipient of the gift is all about stocks and bonds and trading on the market, use the financial pages. Perhaps, you may even want to use the Financial Times newspaper. With its pink tint, it is sure to catch the attention of the receiver.

If the gift is for a bookworm, use the book reviews pages. Most major newspapers have this section that will work perfectly for your gift.

The cook for the family is surely to enjoy a wrapping that will add to the recipe collection already on hand.

The comic pages will do great wrapping for all ages. If the recipient has a favorite comic strip, make sure that the particular strip is strategically placed on the top of the gift, so it may be cut out and kept if he/she so chooses.

Newspaper Roll Wrapping

This is the perfect gift wrapping idea for all the artists out there. It will work great for small to semi-large gifts.

Most towns have a local newspaper. Stop by there and ask if you can have the leftover newspaper roll. It is a roll of off white paper about 27 inches long and they will generally part with it at no cost to you.

After cutting enough paper to wrap the present with, let your imagination and creativity take over.

You can paint or draw your favorite pictures, landscapes, etc. or you can use a theme that the recipient will enjoy. Use one single design, or create as many pictures as there are sides to the present.

You can create collages with copies of pictures. Use family pictures for a gift to a family member, or pictures of friends if the gift is to a friend.

If the recipient is fanatic about a famous individual, you might want to find different prints on this person and use those prints to create your gift wrapping collage.

Children will love drawing pictures and making wrapping paper out of it, and family members will cherish the creation for a long time.

Your imagination will be your limit when creating this wrapping paper and the best thing of all, it will be a one of the kind design.

Paper Bag Wrapping

This type of gift wrapping is perfect for small and odd shaped items.

You will need to purchase brown or white paper bags, the ones that are generally used for brown-bagging lunches. These bags are not expensive and you can decorate them as you please. They are used in place of your regular and more expensive gift bags.

As with the newspaper roll, you can draw, paint, or paste designs and pictures on them.

Personalize them; have fun with them. For example, if your recipient is a poet, you may want to either write a poem on it or cut and paste a poem from a magazine or from the web.

Use fabric to decorate the bag, if your recipient likes to sew or enjoys arts and crafts.

The possibilities are endless for adults and children alike.

To tie the bag, you can use regular gift wrapping ribbon, fabric ribbon, or raffia. Just tie it at the top or fold the bag, punch two holes in the middle, then thread the ribbon through it and tie it shut.

You can also close the bag by folding it and securing it with a sticker. There is such a great variety of stickers out there that you are bound to find something that will fit perfectly with the gift.

Purchasing gifts can be expensive, but at least it is something that it will be probably enjoyed multiple times. Wrapping gifts can be comparatively expensive and, unfortunately, its enjoyment is short lived. This year, opt for the inexpensive gift wrapping solutions outlined above. Not only it will be fun preparing them and wrapping the gifts with, the recipient will also be impressed with your creativity and personal touch added to the present.