Zero Waste Christmas: Three genius wrapping methods

Wrap green with style

My household is moving toward zero waste wrapping. We want to tread a little lighter, send a little less to the landfills. We’re also super frugal, so wrapping paper is just one more expense we don’t need over the holidays.

Americans produce 25% more trash than usual during the holidays. That adds up to 25 million tons. According to the Stanford Library and use-less-stuff.com:

If every family reused just two feet of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet. If every American family wrapped just 3 presents in re-used materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields. The 2.65 billion Christmas cards sold each year in the U.S. could fill a football field 10 stories high. If we each sent one card less, we’d save 50,000 cubic yards of paper.

What “zero waste wrapping” means for me is that my wrapping materials are either re-used and / or can be reused next year.

Zero waste wrapping can cost as much as you want, from $0 to sky’s-the-limit. $0 wrapping materials include paper bags, friends’ extra fabric, string, and sprigs of evergreen.

The current articles out there felt overwhelming to me. Most of the ideas involve a LOT of effort. You’d be spending the week before Christmas folding origami, making pom poms out of yarn, doing calligraphy all over the box — all stuff I wouldn’t bother with.

1. Easiest: Reusable gift bags

If you buy disposable gift bags at the store, you know they’re $$$ and only good for 2 or 3 uses. Cloth gift bags, though, come in lots of sizes and are good for a nearly unlimited number of uses. You can use them for years.

This one’s a no-brainer. You don’t have to know how to wrap or even buy tissue paper.

Try it:

Zero effort version (pictured above):

Step 1: Throw gifts in bags.

Step 2: Enjoy a cup of hot chocolate in front of the fire.

Sources of bags: anywhere! Check Etsy and Amazon. [Cheaper] burlap bags give a rustic look and are biodegradable. On the other hand, the more expansive cotton bags are colorful and festive.

Effortful (but free) version:

Make your own cloth gift bags out of gorgeous fabric scraps. Check with friends or colleagues if you don’t have any — people are dying to get rid of their fabric scraps. You can also get them on Etsy for super cheap.

You don’t need to know how to sew if you use double-sided tape. Tutorial below.

One more example of free wrapping: paper lunch bags with greens and cookies. 😋

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2. Fabric wrapping (no sewing required):

I LOVE this idea for wrapping with cloth. A lot of these techniques are from Japan (Furoshiki) and Korea (보자기 (bojagi)), where cloth wrapping is a tradition.

Low effort version (pictured above):

• Take a square or rectangular piece of cloth.
• Wrap it around the gift.
• Tie a simple knot, like the “bridge” you do on your shoes. DONE.

Where to get the cloth:

Note: You need a thin cloth to make it easy to tie.

• Friends/coworkers, usually dying to get leftover fabrics out of their houses.
• Etsy’s got a ton of these. Some Etsy stores sell pounds of fancy silk etc. scraps for $15 or less.
• Check out your local thrift shop. Buy scarves, fancy tea towels, lace doilies. Usually ~$1–4 per piece. (Bonus: no shipping costs.)

One nice-to-have tool: pinking shears. If you’re working with a fabric that frays easily like cotton, they will keep your edges from raveling out and make them look extra fancy.

More effort version: Fancier knots and adding accessories

Sky’s the limit here. A couple ideas:

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3. Traditional wrapping: Use low waste materials

Low effort method:

• Cover the object. I use Trader Joe’s bags. You can also use maps, sheet music, old books, and newspaper (see below).
• I like to tie a bow on top with string.
• Write the person’s name. DONE.

More work (add embellishments):

Embellishment examples:

• Reused material: Ribbons, fabric, magazine pages, beads, etc. from your local thrift store. The fronts of Christmas cards you receive.
• New material I buy and reuse next year: Name tags, satin ribbon, string
• A cute photo of you and the person together that they can display.
• Natural garnishes — a stick of cinnamon, sprig evergreen, and holly berries!.

In 2016 when I was broke, I made “found poetry” by cutting out letters and words from The New Yorker. (No, I am not fancy enough to have a subscription. I bought a stack at the library sale for $2.)

Here’s one I made for my brother:

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FAQ:

What do I do about tape?

In the olden days, people used to mail packages tied with string. And it’s reusable! Also yarn, ribbon, whatevs. I use raffia because it acts as a string and is also biodegradable.

There are also some plastic-free tapes at office supply stores that you just wet and apply. Example of a plastic-free tape.

What about packing materials and padding for fragile stuff?

One word: popcorn. 🍿

Popcorn makes a great almost-free packing material. I’ve also been known to use old plastic bags as padding. If you have a shredder, you can pad with shredded junk mail.

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For more ideas on zero waste gift wrap, check out my photo roundup of 2018’s best ideas.