While the holiday seasons brings forth an abundance of gifts, it also produces a large amount of waste. I am talking wrapping paper, people! According the EPA, the volume of curb-side trash increases by 25% from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day.
Make this season a little less wasteful (and a lot more environmentally friendly) with these simple gift-wrapping solutions:
Good ol’ fashioned newspaper {image via}
Outdated maps
Paper grocery bags {image via}
Gift wrap/bags from past holidays (I am pretty sure my family has been exchanging the same gift bags for years now)
Reusable bags – my personal favorite!
Burlap sack {image via}
A kitchen towel (two gifts in one!) {image via}
*Other ideas:
- Use shredded newspaper as a bag-filler in place of store-bought tissue paper
- Adorn gifts with items from nature such as pinecones, twigs or a sprig of berries {example}
- Instead of tying boxes with ribbon, use a natural fiber like jute (seen in picture #3 above)
- Give homemade treat gifts in canning jars or tin buckets that can be reused {example}
Which of these green gift-wrapping ideas are your favorite?
Note: Images without credit are ones that I was unable to find an original source for – all images found on Pinterest!