Wrap it Up!

The holidays are just around the corner, and I'm sure that just like us you've got a mound of presents that are just waiting to be wrapped and put under your tree. My thought this holiday season is: how do I not contribute to the wasteful use of paper? Last year I remember passing by trash bins overflowing with wrapping paper after Christmas, telling myself that I would find more creative ways to wrap my gifts. It seemed like a sad after-effect of the holidays - to boot, most gift wrapping can't be recycled, and those that can be recycled generally aren't. According to Eco-Chick.com, if every American family wrapped just three presents in reused materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields.

So, reused materials. I've found some great ways to wrap of those gifts in style to make them the prettiest and most eco-friendly presents under your tree.

Wrap it with fabric! Perfect for smaller gifts, especially jewelry boxes.  Remember, fabric can also come from old tee-shirts or sweaters.

A doubly-useful gift? Use a scarf!

Maps! They're colorful and fun. Try comics and newspaper too!

And make your own bows! If you have leftover wrapping paper or even just old magazines, you can create these beautiful bows very easily!

Here's a tutorial on how to make these super cute spiky bows









And one on how to make the "standard" bow  






If you must use wrapping paper, please make sure it's recycled. Here's some tips on wrapping paper from Earth 911.

Happy wrapping!