I spent a good part of the day running errands today and saw some really cute gift wrap in the stores that I almost bought… then I stopped myself. I’m usually the person that’s storming around the mall the week before the holidays to try to find the *perfect* presents for everyone, but not this year! I’ve already started shopping—especially since I’ll have to schlep it all on the plane with me up to NY and NJ this year.

Aside from not being able to get wrapped presents through airport security, wrapping paper is also extremely wasteful. Just think back to the last holiday or birthday party you were at. Wasn’t there a huge mountain of gift wrap that usually gets tossed in the garbage? (Note: a lot of wrapping paper isn’t even recyclable!).

Well, this year, I’m looking for alternatives to wrapping paper. In fact, I’ve already started using alternatives. Last month, I went to a little girl’s birthday party, so I tucked her present in pretty gift bag that someone else had given me and then I used my trusty paper shredder to make some stuffing with old subway maps (that I obviously no longer need now that I’m in FL!)  It was cute, colorful, a good alternative to tissue paper, and it was a huge hit! Don’t have subway maps? You can use old magazines, catalogs, newspapers, comic books, wall paper scraps, your children’s artwork, or old calendars! And if you don’t have any gift bags to re-gift, you don’t have to shred these items, you can them as wrapping paper instead!

Over the summer, I gave my friend her birthday present in a reusable tote bag that she could take to the supermarket and on our garage sale adventures. You can never have too many tote bags! If you don’t want to go buy them, a simple google search will give you a plethora of ways to make your own! (Instructables is a fabulous resource and has a ton of different bag designs!!)

Honestly thought, I just love wrapping paper! (I almost tried to become a wrapping paper designer!) So if you absolutely must buy wrapping paper, at least try to buy paper that’s made from 100% recycled materials and is 100% recyclable. And if you receive a gift that’s wrapped, you can do what I always do… ever so carefully open the present so that you can reuse the wrapping paper later for origami cranes, greeting cards, scrapbooks, etc.  

And here’s a bonus… don’t buy birthday and holiday cards, cut up some old ones that you’ve received and make gift tags! Or kick it up a notch and make a collage card with a couple different designs! Now that’s not recycling, that’s UPcycling! ;-)