Creative ways to gift wrap your presents this Christmas

Taryn de Vere shares her tips for making Christmas gift wrapping beautiful as well as sustainable, with these clever wrapping hacks.

In my quest for a sustainable Christmas I've tried lots of different ways to wrap presents, from using my kid’s art to newspaper. There are endless choices available and many that are less expensive than store bought paper. Here are a few ideas for a Very Sustainable Christmas.

Charity shop scarves

In our local charity shop they have so many scarves they sometimes give a free scarf with every purchase. I’ve been collecting red, green and gold scarves the last while to use as an alternative gift wrap. The bonus of using scarves is that your gifts are wrapped in another gift. I wash the scarves before using them, then I use string, pipe cleaners, decorations and ribbons from previous Christmasses to tie the fabric together.

Brown paper

Years ago when my kids were little we spent hours in November and December stamping brown paper with holly stamps and pictures of Santy. Now the kids are older I like a cleaner look. Brown paper and string is beautiful and elegant, especially when paired with a beautiful card. I found some L.E.D lights in a charity shop so I added them to this wrapping to give it a little lift. I’ll turn the lights on just before I gift it. You could also use coloured string and some pine, or add a vintage Christmas decoration to finish it off.

Last year’s paper

Full disclosure, the paper you’re seeing here has been on the go for at least nine years. Each year the pieces are getting smaller and smaller, but we’ve got almost a decade out of this load of paper, so I think we’ve done well. If you can, keep your paper this year - especially if it’s really nice paper, or if it’s thick and good quality. I cut off the damaged bits (mostly) before wrapping.

A reusable bag

This one was 50 cents in a charity shop, I washed it and decided its Chrstmassy polka dots deserved to be used as gift wrap. I had some lovely wired ribbon from a bouquet I was given a few years ago that I used that to finish off the gift. Reusable bags are another way of wrapping a gift in a gift. You can also use paper bags, either gift bags you already have, or nice ones from shops. One year my kids and I cut up old Cristmas cards and glued the pictures from them onto the front of paper shopping bags to brightene them up a bit. Use your imagination and try and use what you already have.

If you really love Christmas wrapping paper, try and buy eco-friendly paper. Many of the Christmas wrap options available aren’t recyclable, especially those that are foil based, shiny or have glitter on them. Generally, the more it looks and feels like brown paper the more recyclable it’s likely to be, but check the labels for information.

Whatever wrapping you decide to go for I hope you enjoy it, wrapping presents for other people is a heart-warming part of the Christmas season.