Tips on Crafting Your Own Gift Wrapping

For anyone who always has green on the mind, eco-friendly gift wrapping may be the solution to green gift wrapping. With wrapping paper being blamed for a 25 percent increase in curbside trash during the holiday season, the following tips are designed to help you use and find the best environmentally friendly wrapping paper.

• Using recycled aluminum foil can help you complete the life cycle of the material’s product. Tie it with some raffia or twine for a full green effect. Raffia and twine are more eco-friendly than many traditional ribbons.
• Reusuable shopping bags from your local grocer can be a great choice when giving someone a gift. Not only will they be able to reuse the bag, but they are available in a number of different styles and options.
• Placing your gift in a personalized ice bucket or a container is a good option. It’s easy to place your gift inside a personalized ice bucket or container and your recipient will love the reusability of it. If buying a personalized ice bucket is out of your price range. you could also try using a gallon buckets plastic container, and then decorate the container with ribbons and bows.
• Look to nature for sprigs of berries, branches, shells and pinecones when you’re looking for green embellishments. Using biodegradable gift wrapping will help you complete the whole picture.

Need inexpensive wrapping paper, but want to retain a sense of elegance and a decent presentation? Then this section is for you. Here are a few tips on how to get the most bang for your buck when wrapping gifts.

• Butcher paper is affordable but can be quite plain. Butcher paper is, however, easy to spruce up with markers, glitter glue, paint and stickers.
• Blank white canvas can be a great craft activity for any aspiring artist. Grab some pencils, pens or markers and enjoy making your own personalized wrapping paper.
• Cutting shapes out of foam material such as sponges and gluing them onto paper is another nice, cheap alternative.
• Recycling old holiday cards by cutting them out and pasting the pictures on a brown bag or paper can be a very nice idea.
• For the Christmas season, purchasing gold and silver wrapping paper from a store and accenting the paper with ribbons and bows can make for a great inexpensive wrapping paper.
• Layer different colored tissue together for a colorful and festive look.

Extra tips:

• Placing your gift inside a cardboard box can help you save on wrapping paper as it is often easier to wrap.
• Purchasing your wrapping paper after Christmas can be a smart, economical choice as wrapping paper is usually on sale after the holidays.

When you are in a pinch, aluminum foil can make for great last minute wrapping paper. Not only is aluminum foil a very inexpensive way to wrap a gift, but aluminum foil can look great when it is embellished with holiday and birthday decorations. So how do you use it? Here are a few steps on how to get the best results when wrapping with aluminum foil:

• Before you apply, make sure that you tear off a large enough piece to wrap your entire gift.
• Once you are able to cover your gift, scrunch the ends together to hold the gift in place.
• Give your gift to its recipient.

Extra tips:

• When looking for ways to adorn the foil, stickers, ribbons and bows are a fabulous choice. If you are giving the present to a young girl, keeping it together with a hair scrunchie or a hair band can be a nice alternative.
• Make the aluminum foil look festive and unique with permanent marker.
• The key to using foil is ensuring that your gift wrapping doesn't make it look like you are giving someone your leftover dinner from last night.

If you're looking for a creative alternative to the usual store bought gift wrapping, making your own wrapping paper may be the ideal option for you. Not only will it help show off your creative side, but making your own wrapping paper can help you start a new tradition with these easy steps.

• Before you start making your wrapping paper, you will need some basic supplies including base paper, pencils, erasers, stickers, paint and anything else that you can think of. Glitter glue is a great additional item for designing your wrapping paper. You can use glitter glue to make additional designs on your wrapped gift.
• Plan your ideas ahead of time before applying it onto the paper. Know which colors and what kind of theme you want to focus on. Be sure to sketch out any designs on the white wrapping paper before applying.
• Let your creative juices flow as you work on the wrapping paper. Try adding an ornament to the finish product. You can tie some glitter poinsettia ornaments to the glittered paper as a festive finishing touch!

Extra tips:

• Cutting out photos or magazine pictures can be a nice alternative choice for your wrapping paper.
• If you are looking for something that is non-paper, scarves, tea towels and napkins can make for great fabric wraps.
• Another fun alternative is to use a photograph that will clue your recipient to what is inside.

With over 2.65 billion Christmas cards are produced for the holiday season, every year people are stuck with the dilemma of whether or not they should toss them out. Thankfully, with a little bit of intuition and creativity, it’s possible to recycle your old Christmas cards and holiday party invitation that your loved one gave you. Now you can make this holiday party invitation into a new greeting card. Here's how:

• Cut off the backs of old holiday cards, retaining the side that doesn’t have any writing on it. You can also use pieces of cards from other occasions, like these bridal bliss shower invitations.
• Create your brand-new card by cutting and pasting old cards onto a new blank card. You can often find blank cards at a local craft store.
• Make your own homemade crafts such as placemats and posters by saving your old greeting cards throughout the year. A fun family activity, children will love it and be entertained with the unlimited creative possibilities.

Extra tips:

• If you want to recycle them, look for a holiday recycling center, such as St. Jude’s Ranch, that will process them for you. You will feel great knowing that the proceeds are going somewhere.
• Any greeting card can be recycled as long as it doesn’t contain any musical devices, plastic pieces or anything metallic.

Looking for interesting striking alternatives for your usual brown Kraft wrapping paper can often yield interesting results, and peeking into your pantry, closet and drawers can provide plenty of inspiration when it comes to storage. Not only are a lot of the solutions eco-friendly, but quite often they will help you come across as unique.

• Newspaper: Believe it or not, newspapers can make for a great gift wrap. Wrap the present with their favorite section and watch them light up with glee.
• Brown paper bag: Sure, placing a gift inside a brown paper bag may be boring on its own, but spending a few minutes to adorn it with embellishments like stickers and ribbons can go a long way.
• Fabric: Use leftover pieces of fabric from a tablecloth, a scarf or even a napkin and secure with a ribbon or cording.
• Posters: If you have any posters that you aren't using anymore, wrapping your present in them can be a great way to recycle it.
• Maps: Large, colorful maps can make for a unique gift wrap for any history buff. They work great with any travel-related or outdoor product.
• Glass jars: If you can fit your present within a glass jar, they're definitely a great choice as you can often replace the label with your own design.

Brown Kraft wrapping paper can, however, make great wrapping paper for gifts. Simply adorn the brown Kraft wrapping paper with photos, ribbons, stickers and ornaments to make it a festive gift wrapping option.

If you're going to give someone a gift, chances are you're going to have to address it in some way or form, so why not make your own gift cards to add the perfect finishing touch to your present? Making your own tags from construction paper and even photos is a very simple and fun process. Here's how:

• Construction paper: If you have any heavy weight construction paper lying around your house, then you already have everything that you're going to need to start making your own gift tags. Cut a rectangle from a dark colored sheet of the heavy weight construction paper and cut a smaller second rectangle from a lighter shade, placing it directly on top of the first one. Remove the corners of the two rectangular pieces and finish it off with embellishments that are appropriate for the occasion. Next, punch a hole into the rectangle and thread a festive ribbon or chord through it and tie the tag onto your gift.
• Scrapbook paper: You can also use scrapbook paper to make gift tags. Scrapbook paper is a great option because it comes in many varieties with plenty of designs to choose from. Try making a tag with a beautiful piece of roses scrapbook paper, or just use a scrapbook paper in a vibrant color.
• Photos: Cut small pieces of card stock into desired shape, take small photos of your recipient's face and glue them to the card stock. Next, punch a hole into the card and thread it to the gift with a ribbon.