Alternative to Christmas wrap

[crittersmum]

The things you find on the web! I can't sew and have the creativity of an unripened avocado, but I can tie knots and we're always looking for a way to make our Christmas more environmentally friendly. Here's a guide to furoshki, put out by The Japanese Ministry of the Environment. (I found the link in one of those happy accidents on the blog "Mommy Cooks") .

[rere]

You could use your kid's paintings/drawings.My daughter has an easel and in stead of cutting the paper off I just keep rolling the finished pieces and then use it for wrapping paper.

Paper grocery bags or newspaper that your kid paints is fun.

And I'm sure there are lots of totes or drawstring bags on Etsy.

[MrsAprilMay]

Originally Posted by rere

You could use your kid's paintings/drawings.My daughter has an easel and in stead of cutting the paper off I just keep rolling the finished pieces and then use it for wrapping paper.

Paper grocery bags or newspaper that your kid paints is fun.

We do this, too.

I wish we could get everyone in the family onboard with fabric wrap. As it is if we give it to them, they probably still throw it away.

[WendyC]

I buy blank playsilks from Dharma trading co and dye them pretty colors. Volia! I tie it up just like on the site you posted. Last year they came out beautifully. The packages were just gorgeous.

[captain crunchy]

If I am doing paper, I ask for a few brown paper bags from the recycling bin at the grocery store which they are happy to give, have already been used once, and can be recycled after use. I love the look of "brown paper packages tied up with string" -- you could say it is one of my favorite things

Okay bad joke... but you can also have your kids decorate before wrapping.

[tinasquirrel]

I love the idea of dyeing a Dharma playsilk blank and using it to wrap the package. That would work really well for our cousin gifts this year, and they really like playsilks. Thank you!

[monkey's mom]

Last year I cut up brown grocery bags and zig-zag stitched simple lines across them, put the items inside, and zig-zagged them shut. I even made little tags with the kid's first initial zig-zagged. It was so easy and they really looked cute.

You could also use a whole punch around the edges and thread yarn or string or raffia around. Great project for kids--depending on ages, of course.

[AlbertaJes]

My DH used to get a lot of maps from work and they weren't of any use to anyone who wasn't doing whatever he was doing that week. He still has a huge box of them that he loves to use as wrapping paper.

[monkey's mom]

Originally Posted by AlbertaJes

My DH used to get a lot of maps from work and they weren't of any use to anyone who wasn't doing whatever he was doing that week. He still has a huge box of them that he loves to use as wrapping paper.

LUCKY!! I love, love, love maps. If you've ever got any extras.....:

[pammysue]

This would be great with receiving blankets for new babies. What a fun idea.

Like the pp, my family would probably just throw the fabric out.

[rere]

Originally Posted by WendyC

I buy blank playsilks from Dharma trading co and dye them pretty colors. Volia! I tie it up just like on the site you posted. Last year they came out beautifully. The packages were just gorgeous.

Oh yeah...I wrapped a present once in a "silk" scarf from the thrift store.It was so cute!And the little guy loved that part just as much as the present inside.

[rere]

Originally Posted by MrsAprilMay

I wish we could get everyone in the family onboard with fabric wrap. As it is if we give it to them, they probably still throw it away.

Wouldn't it be fun if the whole family used cloth and the same fabric could just keep going around every year?

Is it sad that I see that as fun?

[PatchChild]

My family reuses all the bows on packages, but I'm not sure they'd go along with fabric. It is funny to watch the scramble for the "good" bows after all the packages have been opened. We're known to stash them up out sleeves and in presents in order to use them the next year.

We've done a lot of packaging in baskets, tins, and reusable pretty boxes.

[limette]

I'm just doing newspaper this year with the never ending stash of red bows I have left over from when I sold gift baskets (7 years ago).

We get flyers in the mail that come wrapped in the classified ads. So I'm using the newsprint.

I love Christmas wrapping paper but we can't recycle it so newspaper it is.

[tbone_kneegrabber]

dp's aunt sewed (many years ago) a bunch of holiday themed bags in different sizes. Every year she puts the gifts in them and ties them with a piece of ribbon (each family member gets a different color of ribbon) and then they save on paper and tags. She just reuses the same simple bags every year. I love it!!!

we use newspaper. my inlaws get the sunday paper and we ask them to save the color funnies and we use that, and when we run out we just use the regular paper.

[Ifluffedthree]

brown paper grocery bags, cookie cutters and paint.

[slsurface]

I made a bunch of cloth bags up about five years ago. They are simple, lined drawstring bags made out of holiday prints. I use these for family Christmas gifts. Everyone knows that they have to give them back after the holidays.

I also try to give gifts in useful or reusable packages, like baskets, crates, tins, hand bags, totes, etc.

For things that have to be wrapped in paper, we usually make our own paper with newspaper or paper bags and decorate with stamps or paint.

[sanguine_speed]

I make (and sell) fabric gift bags. I line them for a truly luxurious and durable bag, and I've created vinyl pockets for tags. I do give them to family with no expectation of them being returned. We want them to go forth into the world, lol.

[Ell-Bell]

I love these ideas! We use drawings that DS made, and occasionally a fabric bag. I love the ideas of play silks... wonder if it's too late for a Dharma order?

I can't do newspaper. When I was young my step-mom got pissed at me on my birthday one year and as a way of showing me how little she cared she wrapped my gifts in newspaper. Silly, petty, and just stupid, I know. Because she made it out to be a derogatory thing, the idea of wrapping gifts in newspaper makes me feel like it's a punishment. Guess I flash back to that 13 year old self. I KNOW it's a good solution to the waste problem, and a nice green alternative, it's just that gut feeling in me that can't do it. Um, that and the fact that we don't get the newspaper and don't have any available...

[SuzyLee]

I have started wesing little bags whenever I have a sewing project that leaves scraps. Anything remotely xmas-y gets made into a bag. I plan to only give them to people who will either reuse the cloth bag or give it back to me to use again. Everyone else I will just do paper for (but I am hoping by the time I use up my wrapping paper stash I will have converted most of the fam).

Suzan