Did you know we throw away 4.6 million pounds of wrapping paper each year? Most wrapping paper isn’t recyclable because of its metallic fibers or isn’t profitable to recycle because of its short fibers. And oftentimes it’s a single-use product.

To avoid some of that extra waste, you can use items you already have or thrift some of these wrapping options. Short on time? Check out this video:

Paper Options:

I’m sure there have been a few times you’ve forgotten your reusable shopping bag when grabbing groceries. Instead of tossing the paper bag in the recycling, cut it open and use it to wrap your gift.

If you want to jazz it up you can add some:

• cinnamon sticks
• sprig of rosemary
• sprig of pine
• dried orange slices
• a flower

If you have a white elephant gift exchange, I’ve used newspaper or even the wrapping from my Who Gives a Crap Toilet paper! It’s usually meant to be a funny gift anyways, why not use paper you already have in the house and make it funny!

Cloth Options:

If you have some extra cloth napkins, you can wrap your gift Furoshiki style. Furoshiki is a Japanese style type of wrapping. Here’s a quick tutorial on how to wrap with cloth:

Just like with paper wrapped presents you can jazz it up using some sprigs or rosemary or cinnamon sticks. If you don’t have a cloth napkin, a thrifted scarf works well too!

My in-laws always send my kids gifts pre-wrapped from Amazon. I save those gift bags and use them to wrap my kid’s presents each year. I also use them to wrap birthday presents for any birthday parties my kids go to throughout the year.

In other words, reuse gift bags you already have! Also, if the moms of the birthday boy or girl won’t reuse the gift bags, I totally ask for them back. Yes…I’m THAT mom! 😛 I figured, if it’s going in the trash, why not ask for it back!

Metal Options:

Finally, we have the metal boxes or tins. These are common for gifting Christmas cookies but could be a great way to wrap a gift as well.  If you get a tin of cookies this year, save the tin to wrap presents next year. If you don’t have any tins, check out your local thrift store for any metal containers that can be used to wrap gifts.

What do you think? Can you wrap your gifts using one of these options this year? 

For related and random posts, check out:

• Plastic-Free Birthday Parties for Kids
• How to Create a Capsule Wardrobe with Project 333