In our frenzy to wrap holiday pacakages, we don’t often thinkabout the sheer amount of trees and energy used to produce all of the paper needed to play Santa that gets ripped off and thrown right into the trash can before the gifts can even cool off.  So here are some green alternatives to wrap your conscience around this season.

One of the simplest - and cheapest - is reusing paper, bows, boxes and bags!  I am definitely the bow nazi in our family; no bow gets past me to the garbage bag on Christmas morning.  It’s amazing how you can train your relatives to “pass the bow and bags” staight to you while they unwrap.

Look around the house for existing paper - like the comics, business or lifestyle sections of the newspaper - that may suit the personality of the person receiving the gift.  Magazine pages are great, too.  You can find a picture of absolutely anything in magazines.  It’s perfect for smaller gifts, or even put the pages edge to edge to cover larger presents.  And if you want to use something that has some special meaning, take some of your child’s artwork to wrap up that perfect gift for Grandpa or Grammie and I guarantee that paper will never see in the landfill.

Try using part of the gift as the wrap itself.  Maybe use a decorative hand towel to wrap body lotions or soaps.  A kitchen towel could wrap up fun kitchen gadgets or use Tupperware containers to hide gifts in.  A baby blanket can hold toys, photo frames, or baby booties.  You get the idea. 

And to really relieve yourself of the wasted paper guilt, there are stylish reusable bags that come with their own built-in bow.  Gift Wrap Green in San Diego makes colorful cotton gift bags that come in all different sizes and designs!  Washing the bags in cold water helps continue the earth-friendly cycle they were intended for.  The eco-friendly fabric bags are so cute and so handy, they’re perfect post-gift for holding kids toys, make-up, lingerie or use them anywhere you need some organizing.  If the recipient doesn’t think they’ll repurpose them, politely ask for them back!  Somebody needs to use them again and it might as well be you.  Happy Green Wrapping!

Tags: Add new tag, cloth gift bags, Green gift wrap, reusable

Categories: Ideas, Products