Eco-friendly gift-wrapping ideas

Hi, everyone. Welcome to My Green Closet. So, today I'm going to share a few ideas for more eco-friendly ways that you can wrap gifts.

So, my mother has actually been making cloth gift bags for as long as I can remember. We have a bunch of different ones in different sizes, and they've been recycled through our family throughout the years. 

They're really simple to make. This one is just sewn on three sides, and then has a ribbon sewn to the outside so that you can tie it up. And it's been really nice to see them get passed around. 

Another way you can make it is by using ribbons as a drawstring.

If you'd like something a bit more practical, you can also wrap gifts in reusable tote bags or produce bags, like this one. This is a bag I made myself, just by sewing some fabric together and adding a ribbon drawstring, and I just tied on a bit of greenery to give it some decoration.

I really like the look of rustic twine-wrapped presents. You can save pieces of string or twine to reuse, or I also like to use hemp twine, which is really sustainable.

For wrapping paper, I'll try to use any extra paper I have, or recycled paper like craft paper or newsprint. Or newspapers can make really cool wrapping paper.

And because it's a little plain, I like to tie it with twine and then add just a little piece of greenery. It's really simple but I think it looks nice. 

Another more personal idea is to put a photo on it. Now, I will definitely reuse paper, even if it's crumpled, and I actually kind of like the crumpled look. I think it adds an interesting texture and actually looks pretty nice.

I use paper tape but there are really cool tutorials online of how you can wrap presents without any tape, and I will link one below. An easy way to decorate a present is to use any images you have, maybe from your favourite eco-magazine, and just tape that on the top.

So, I decided to use this really beautiful flower illustration, and another thing that I like to do is pick up art postcards at markets from local artists, which I either send to people or I can use for decoration. And I'm just taping this on top but you could also tie it on, and again, I personally really like the rustic look of the ripped and visible tape.

A really amazing way to wrap presents or all kinds of things is, I think it's pronounced furoshiki, and it's a Japanese technique to wrap things, and there are so many different tutorials of it online and really cool ways to tie fabric. So, you can use things like vintage scarves, tea towels, napkins or any kind of fabric to do this.

My husband and I don't really give each other gifts. We try to do something instead, but we will give each other tiny little treats that we like, and instead of wrapping those, we just put them in a stocking.

So, these are some of the ways that I like to wrap gifts for the holidays, keeping it really simple and using a lot of things that already exist and can be recycled and reused. And I would love to hear in the comments if you have any other ideas or how you wrap gifts sustainably. Thank you for watching and thank you so much to those of you supporting me on Patreon, and I'll see you in the next one.

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