Eco-Friendly Gift Packaging Methods To Try Out

Considering the number of wrapping paper Americans toss out every year, it is wise to consider another gift-wrapping method. The best way is still to choose alternative eco-friendly gift box wrap packaging.

In this method, the gift wrap box (know more) is made of eco-friendly materials and can be used over and over. We will consider a few alternative gift wrap methods in this post.

Why choose eco-friendly gift packaging

As we approach the holiday season, we are keen to prepare the gifts we want to share with loved ones. Santa is ready with his packages and the kids can’t wait. Yet, it is worrisome that we are doing a lot of harm to our environment with the wrapping paper we cherish so much.

Most times no one uses these papers afterward and about four million tons are disposed of yearly in America alone. Worldwide, a whopping $2.6 billion dollars are used to purchase wrapping paper that would be used once. In fact, more waste is produced between Thanksgiving and Christmas from these bags than throughout the whole year.

This is an indication that we must seek an eco-friendly gift wrapping option. We haven’t even talked about the 38,000 miles plus of ribbon tossed out during the holidays. Neither have we considered the Christmas trees (about 15 million) that are trashed yearly.

If we don’t seek an alternative gift wrap method, we would be doing our environment more harm each year. So how do we fix our gift wrap box problem? We discuss this in the coming paragraphs.

Different eco-friendly gift packaging methods

• Make your gift and its pack one

You must have heard it before, great gifts hardly come with a package. Strange but very true and it can be very useful in this regard. There are tons of ways to spin your gift such that it becomes the package in itself.

This is one of the subtle eco-friendly gift wrapping methods anyone should consider. It will definitely take some creativity and tact but when done efficiently, it is a beauty to behold.

One example is using a sweater to wrap the accompanying socks and mittens. Another, which is great for a person moving to a new apartment, is putting kitchen supplies into a pot. You could also put gift cards into a new purse too.

Really, more practice with these alternative gift wrap styles will make you forget paper exists at all. Try practicing at home before the holidays to hone your gift wrapping skills.

• Use old paper bags or newspapers

Many of us have tons of these paper bags and newspapers at home. They are lying there constituting a huge nuisance and all we want is to dispose of them. Disposing of them would add to the dilemma of our environment, that’s probably your only restraint.

Here’s some good news, you can use those old papers to wrap gifts. They would make any gift look vintage and good. So if you like to tape every single gift, you would enjoy using this wrapping idea.

You may ask, wouldn’t the paper still end up in the trash? Yes, it sure will. Only that this time, you have used it one more time before it did.

In case, you are not a fan of tape, there are still ways of making your paper stay in place. There are tons of ribbon and origami ideas you can choose and tweak.

• Use your six-pack beer box again for eco-friendly gifts

This is one gift wrap box idea that should be appealing if you have a few of these boxes around. There are times when you are completely engrossed in getting your gift and preparing for a party. At the end of the day, you find out that you forgot all about your preferred wrapping method.

There’s no need to panic when this happens, simply check to see if you have a six-pack beer box around. They are magical when it comes to wrapping multiple gifts or gifts with multiple components.

This method is very similar to the stuffing we were used to those days. All you need to do in this case is stuff each compartment with a gift item. Examples include t-shirts, socks, mittens, candles, chocolate bars, etc.

Even if you don’t drink beer, you can still order some of these gift boxes wholesale online for special effects.

• Recycle a cereal box to surprise the receiver

There’s a great chance that as you read this post, there are a couple of cereal boxes lying waste around. Looking for an alternative gift wrap idea? Let’s show you how you can use a gift box.

This method will completely surprise the receiver of the gift and it works best with small gifts. Pick the smallest box and put your gift item inside. Put that box in a slightly bigger cereal box and put this box in a yet bigger box.

You can have three to four boxes just so you can show off your mischievous side. This will be a lot of fun when handing gifts to your kids.

• Old maps

This eco-friendly gift wrapping method is not too common but you can take advantage of it this holiday. We hardly use paper maps anymore since we have smartphones that do all the work these days.

Those maps end up as dust collectors in your car’s glove compartment. Rather than dump that map in the trash, you can use it to wrap your gift.

This is a subtle way of recycling that old map. You can get creative and stick the map to your regular gift wrap box so it becomes a map box. Share that gift with someone who loves geography and see how much joy you would create.

• Old t-shirts instead of ribbons

We all have some old tees that we consider scrap because they have become too tight. Simply use a pair of scissors to recycle these t-shirts by cutting them into ribbon-like sizes. You should have a sizeable number of ribbons from this process at the end of the day.

Conclusion

Eco-friendly gift wrapping is the new order of the day. It’s high time we began tapping into the alternative gift wrap methods and leave the traditional gift wrap box behind. Share some of your ideas with Zigpac in the comments section.