I love having beautifully wrapped gifts under our Christmas tree, but I hate the mound of waste we end up throwing in the bin. So, this year I have been playing around with a few sustainable ways to wrap our gifts. Here are my five favourite sustainable gift-wrapping ideas.
Have fun with fabric
Wrapping gifts in cloth is a great way of cutting back on plastic waste and it can be two gifts in one. Why not try your hand at the art of Furoshiki and wrap your gifts in a beautiful piece of fabric, a scarf or tea towel? Furoshiki is a traditional Japanese style of gift-wrapping that dates to the 8th century and was first used to protect valuable goods.
Brown paper bags are the best
Instead of store-bought wrapping paper (that very rarely can be recycled) I will be wrapping some of our gifts in brown paper bags this year. Add a beautiful fabric ribbon, a twig from the garden or a homemade Christmas decoration to give it a bit of Christmas pzazz.
Reuse packaging
I have a shelf in my linen cupboard for storing delivery boxes and other packaging that can be used to wrap Christmas (and other) gifts. You would be surprised how beautiful a plain brown cardboard delivery box can look when decorated with a beautiful fabric ribbon. I also save interesting packaging like coffee bean bags and tomato punnets for wrapping gifts in.
Replace those synthetic ribbons
Replace sticky tape and synthetic ribbons with fabric ribbons or twine made from hemp, organic cotton or other natural fibres that are compostable or can be reused year after year.
Visit a thrift shop
Brows a thrift shop for pre-loved ornaments, decorative brooches, vintage cards, old maps, jars and cookie tins – which all make for great (and green) alternatives to the shiny gift wrap and synthetic ribbons the stores are full of.
Here’s to beautiful and sustainable wrapped gifts.
xxx
