Looking for some easy low-waste giftwrapping ideas? We’ve got you covered. Using alternatives to wrapping paper and Sellotape doesn’t mean your gifts have to look cheap and tacky. Get your creative juices flowing and have some fun trying out different alternatives.
Most of these items are probably already lying around your house somewhere.
Did you know Australians use more than 150,000km of wrapping paper during Christmas each year? That’s enough to wrap around the equator nearly 4 times and most of it ends up in landfill along with the millions of rolls of sellotape.
How insane is that and that is just Christmas time! What about all the other special occasions we buy gifts for throughout the year.
Reference – https://www.csiro.au/en/news/all/articles/2023/december/plastic-waste-christmas
If we educate ourselves and each other then we are heading in the right direction to a more sustainable future. Awareness is key for change.
With that in mind, here are some easy gift-wrapping alternatives.
- Fabric.
Fabric is a super easy and viable gift-wrapping idea. I’m sure we all have some sort of old fabric lying around the house that we could use or even a quick trip to an op shop would do the trick. For small gifts, fabric bags or tea towels work great and can both be used again. For larger gifts you could use a pillowcase, or an old large t-shirt cut to size.
- Old newspaper
Newspaper is a great wrapping idea. You can wrap gifts of all sizes with newspaper. It looks really trendy, and most newsagents will be happy to give you old newspapers if you ask.
- Paper bags.
Paper bags are easy to use and if they have no plastic lining or glitter, they can be recycled. Paper bags made from bio-degradable plant-based materials are even compostable. Alternatively, they can be reused.
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- Kraft paper
Natural kraft paper is similar to traditional wrapping paper and can be used to wrap almost any gift. It looks beautiful and rustic on its own or because of its blank canvas it can also be dressed up nicely depending on how creative you want to be. It is also fully compostable.
- Glass jars.
Glass jars are a great way to carry gifts. They are cute, durable and can be reused for so many purposes. They can hold sweets, clothing items, homemade jams/sauces and many more quirky gifts.
- Shoeboxes.
Not all shoeboxes are nice enough to put gifts in, but some are cute and come in nice colours and this would be a great way to repurpose them.
There are various items you can use to tie and decorate your gift wrapping, depending on your preference and what you may have at home. You can use newspaper cuttings or old book pages cut into strips to create beautiful bows to put on top. You can tie everything together with some old ribbon or rope you may have lying around. Compostable hemp string, fabric strips or old shoelaces work well too!
Next time you are wrapping a gift think twice about what you are using and see what you can come up with that is low waste. The planet will thank you.