Eco Friendly Gift Wrapping Ideas

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As a family, we are making as many small steps as we can to be more sustainable, and change to more eco-friendly alternatives where possible including eco friendly gift wrapping, more sustainable purchases and reducing plastic. After working on the Make1 Change campaign last year, I have continued to take steps to reduce the amount of single use plastic we consume as a family, and the impact this has had on the amount of waste and recycling we produce as a family has been pretty significant.

With Christmas fast approaching, I have been looking into more sustainable eco friendly gift wrapping options and attempting a few more eco friendly gift wrapping methods for presenting and wrapping gifts. People don’t always realise this, but wrapping paper and Christmas crackers cannot usually be recycled, normally because they covered in plastic, dye, foil, glitter or sticky tape and have a shiny texture, meaning that last year Britain threw out 108 Million rolls of wrapping paper! And for what? Those 5 minutes where the children rip it all open to reveal the gifts inside, only for it to all be gathered up into a black sack and thrown straight into the trash. It’s completely unnecessary. 

Here are my ideas for plastic free wrapping paper alternatives for a more environmentally friendly and sustainable Christmas!

Eco Friendly Gift Wrapping

Furoshiki Wrapping

Furoshiki is a Japanease art of wrapping gifts, food or other items using cloth – traditionally in a lightweight square piece of material such as silk. Unlike wasteful wrapping paper, the fabric wrapping can be used again and again so produces zero waste, and the Furoshiki wrapping techniques are very easy to achieve – not requiring a great deal of skill at all. You dont need to be an oragami or craft expert, just be able to tie some basic knots!.

Here is an example of a simple box I wrapped using a square scarf, but essentially any pieces of lightweight fabric will do the trick! Why not visit some local charity shops to see if you can find some cheap scarves or pashminas which you can use in golds, reds and greens? Furoshiki is really simple, but very effective and you can really experiment with different colours, styles and designs. Be warned however, start searching for Furoshiki techniques on YouTube and you could end up down a rabbit warren where time will pass by in a blur!

The example below of Furoshiki eco friendly gift wrapping is by far as perfect as it could be, but took me literally two seconds to create, and not a piece of plastic tape or wrapping paper in sight, and absolutely zero waste.

Create your own Christmas Wrapping Paper

My girls absolutely love a bit of festive craft, and getting the kids involved in making their own wrapping paper is not only a fab half term or weekend activity, but is a far cheaper and more sustainable way to wrap your Christmas gifts too.

Using a roll of plain recycled brown paper, and a small potato, simply create a potato stamp by cutting a potato in half and cutting into the desired shape e.g. Christmas Tree or star. Add some paint or natural dyes into a dish, and ask your children to dip and stamp onto the paper. Leave to dry and then repeat as required.

Its worth saying here, whilst you may want to add some sparkle to your designs, avoid the glitter, unless you can get hold of some biodegradable options which whilst a bit more expensive, are not going to end up in our oceans!

The finished effect is really simple but looks great, with a really natural yet warm and festive feel when they are all piled up together under the tree.

Reusable Linen Bags

Another option which the kids can help to design, is to wrap gifts using a reusable linen bag. Not only do they make a handy gift bag for your present, but once unwrapped, the bag can be folded up and stashed into the recipients handbag to use when they are out and about, as a great way to reduce single-use plastic usage when at the supermarket or local shop.

We bought these eco friendly gift wrapping plain canvas bags from Hobbycraft, which the girls designed using stamps and fabric paints. You can create statement quotes or fun printed designs and the opportunities are pretty endless. My family love receiving personalised and home made gifts, so knowing the they are using something that the girls have designed themselves would also create an element of sentimental value too!

Newspaper Wrapping Paper

If it’s already going in the recycling, why not wrap your Christmas gifts using old newspaper or magazines instead of shop bought wrap? Using fabric ribbons and natural decorations you can still make newspaper gift wrap look really festive, but unlike traditional wrapping papers which are often covered in glitter or made from a shiny paper that isn’t able to be recycled, the newspaper is 100% suitable to be reused or recycled without waste. Obviously chose the section of newspaper wisely – no one wants to be thinking about Brexit on Christmas Day or reading about a celebrity boob job gone wrong – have a quick scan first to make sure your content is age appropriate too!

I loved adding some personalised calligraphy tags on recycled brown parcel tags, and using some natural decorations such as dried orange peel and miniature pine cones to finish off the look, but again the creative opportunities are endless!

More Sustainable Gift Wrapping Ideas

The next thing to bear in mind for eco-friendly gift wrapping, is do you really need a physical gift at all??

At Christmas it can be all to easy to get dragged into spend lots of money buying ‘things’ for the children to unwrap, and this level of consumerism is bad for the environment because children simply get too much which increases the amount of waste. When I consider all the gifts I buy the girls, then add in the grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins, and the amount we accumulate is way more than we need, and far more than they can play with at any one time. Buying too much at Christmas inevitably leads to more waste, more land fill and more strain on our already struggling recycling services.

Toy Subscription Services

Toy subscription services like Whirli are a great option for more sustainable presents – where children borrow toys instead of buying them new. You buy an ever changing toy box, and when kids get bored, they can send the toys back and swap them for something new. Not only does this save money for the recipient from the normal RRP, but reduces waste, allows them to try out items they might not otherwise buy, and reduces the amount of plastic (packaging and product!) going into landfill too.

Whirli recently won Gold for the Best Subscription box in the Junior Design Awards and is hugely growing in popularity, with new and current toys being added all the time – you can see the full range of toy options here. I reviewed Whirli back in April, and loved it so much that I now pay for it myself. The girls love it when the “Whirli man” arrives with their new parcel and everything comes assembled and ready to play!

Sign up to Whirli using my referral code ZDO4SV9L and you will get £5 or 15% off your first payment, whichever is greater! (Affiliate link)

Gift Experiences

Whilst ‘things’ are always nice to open, don’t underestimate the importance of gifting experiences. Not only can these be sent as e-vouchers (which produce zero waste and don’t need to be wrapped or recycled), but they are also more likely to create memories that will be cherished far longer than your average toy or gift. Spending quality time with your loved ones instead, why not explore options such as an afternoon tea, segway ralley, trip to the cinema or taking your daughter to her first concert?

I’ve booked tickets for Erin to go to her first ever concert this year, and I know it is something that we both will really enjoy.

I hope you have found these ideas helpful for a more eco-friendly and sustainable Christmas.

If we can all do just a little bit to help reduce our waste and single use plastic usage, it would make a massive impact on our environment and help protect the world for future generations.

Do you have any other eco-friendly gift wrapping ideas? I’d love to hear them!

Lucy xxx