6 Creative Ways To Wrap Gifts, gathered in one list

One way to cut down on curbside garbage come December 26th is to think outside the wrapping paper & gift box. There are plenty of things that are destined for the garbage bin that can be repurposed into cheeky and sweet holiday wrapping paper (their last hurrah, if you will). And some prezzies can even multitask as the packaging themselves. Why not earn a few “you are so creative” comments and save a few bucks while you are at it?

Map It Out– Our first instead-of-wrapping-paper idea in fact came from the fact that John is a map freak. No matter the region, the color, or the type (geographic, topographic, weird and crusty) John is all over ’em. So when we chose to buck tradition in the gift wrap category, we immediately thought of John’s heaping pile of mostly free maps from rest stops, state capitols, and cross country road trips of yore. Some tape and scissors are all it takes to turn a map into some worldly (or local) gift wrap in a snap. And it’ll keep your guests entertained (and searching for the capitol) even before they rip it off to reveal the real prize inside.

Wrap Your Wrap- You may have noticed our pashmina-as-gift-wrap idea back in last week’s Gift Guide, but in the interest of being thorough we will revisit it for a sec. Gotta enjoy an affordable scarf that is useful ($3 at Walmart!), one-size-fits-all, and can serve as the “wrapping paper” for any number of other items from cookie tins to games and even navigation systems and other grown up toys. And what other form of gift wrap comes in handy on chilly nights?

Go Paperless- In the vein of other gifts that provide the decorative packaging themselves, anything from a blanket or a cardigan to a sweater or even a stack of dish towels needs nothing more than a plain ribbon and a gift tag to cut down on your wrapping time (and your Christmas Day trash pile).

Brown Bag It- Of course there is consistently the classic brown paper bag packaging idea. It may sound strange (and you may lament that all your bags are printed), but if you snip them apart and use them inside out they are chic little butcher-paper-ish gifts that look jolly with some plain ribbon (we also enjoy the natural look of $1 twine from the craft store).

Leave Your Mark- We also enjoyed the idea of leaving hand prints with paint on decorative paper (spotted here) since we are consistently suckers for personalization (we in fact did something similar with Burger simply last month). Does not it look like a especially lively way for your little ones to make their mark this Christmas? Stamping a few handprints on butcher paper (or even printer paper for smaller gifts) will certainly create something adorable in an instant. And grandma simply might cherish it more than the gift inside.

Tote Time- Lastly, there is consistently the fabric or woven bag option. From cotton totes to little straw carry-alls, there is no shortage of low-cost and consistently-useful bags at places like Target to stuff with goodies for the ones you enjoy. Some of them are so deeply discounted that they rival the cost of a one-time-use paper gift bag. And it is consistently lively to get a gift that is useful through and through (and again and again).

We hope you folks have as much lively packaging your gifts as you do opening the ones with your name on ’em. Glad wrapping… and ribboning… and repurposing!

Be sure to check out more lively and fabulous wrapping ideas on BHG here , MyHomeIdeas here, and on thenest.com here.