Mass consumerism is not our thing but we know the importance of the holiday season and with it comes gift giving, cue the Anti-Consumerist Guide To Christmas Gift Giving. Not all Christmas wrapping is able to be recycled with its glitter, dyes and laminates. We’ve come up with some recyclable and zero waste ways to give your gifts that doesn’t involve channelling nanna and saving every bit of Christmas wrapping to use again next year.
Here’s how to green your gift wrapping…
1. Make the wrapping part of the gift
Now here is a common sense option, make your wrapping a gift also. A cool tote bag is a good replacement for a gift bag, take it next level and give gifts in an eco-conscious beach bag. Consider your fabrics and go for something made from a natural fibre. Smaller gifts can be placed in jars or reusable containers. Glass candle jars make for great pot plants and let’s face it everyone loves plants.
2. Furoshiki
Furoshiki, the Japanese art of fabric wrapping and knot tying, not only looks great but gives the gift receiver a beautiful piece of reusable fabric. Furoshiki allows you to wrap any object and it definitely helps when it comes to wrapping oddly shaped gifts. Choose fabric at least three times the size of your gift with a pattern on both sides (old scarfs or scrap material from thrift shops make a great piece of fabric for furoshiki!).
This definitely isn’t for last minute gift wrapping, it can take a few tries to get it spot on but is really worth the effort. You can watch a basic tutorial here:
3. Recycle and reuse
Reduce waste by reusing and recycling materials you already have to wrap gifts. Newspaper is a great go-to for wrapping gifts, finish with twine and some flora or if you have spare coloured craft paper utilise this to add colour.
You can also recycle and reuse Who Gives A Crap eco-friendly toilet paper which is ideal wrapping for smaller gifts, although maybe avoid using this for your boss’s Christmas present unless they have some witty humour about them. A lot of florists use burlap for their bouquets, any flowers you receive keep the burlap for eco-friendly wrapping paper. Swap out the glittery wrapping paper for recyclable kraft paper and the ribbon with twine.
We hope these ideas will prompt you to make better decisions. Instead of purchasing new gift wrapping made from questionable materials and from unnamed sources, give these eco-friendly gift wrapping options a go!
Recommending reading:
- 100+ Ethical, Eco-Friendly and Zero Waste Gift Ideas For Birthdays and Christmas
- 3 Eco-Conscious Ways To Wrap Gifts This Christmas
- 15 Cruelty-Free and Vegan Xmas Gifts For Eco Beauty Lovers
- Zero Waste Christmas Gift Guide
- Affordable Eco-Friendly Christmas Gifts For The Entire Family (Under $50)
