reuse | Creativadoration

As part of my Holiday Gift Guide 2007,
here are some suggestions for Gift Wrapping!

Take the Handmade Pledge this Holiday season!

* Please note that none of the sellers featured are sponsors! These a MY favorites!

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Almost everyone will agree that the Holidays are fun and well, exhausting too!

Mother Earth is also really tired! This time of the year, millions of plastic bags (and much more!) are produced and used for a day or for a few hours so we can give a gift to loved ones. Which is sad, and sometimes not even necessary!

So first, here are a few ideas to help her out! Plus, save money! Most the ideas are to make with stuff you have around the house already!

Bring your reusable grocery bags when going to the mall to shop. Refuse all extra bags and paper offered to you, just slip your items in the bags your brought with you! No reusable bags? (Where have you been? lol) Get that pile of large shopping plastic bags you have been keeping since last year out of the drawer and use that instead of new ones.
Small gifts to give? Make a small box yourself with cover stock papers you have at home. (See here and here for free templates!)
Need to fill in your box with padding so the item doesn’t move around? Get your shredder out (or tear it out yourself) and fill the package with that!
Why use paper to gift wrap? Use fabric! Old t-shirts, jeans, bed sheets, table cloth, etc. Cut the size you need (if you are crafty, sew the edges, if not, no worries!), fold it over and tie with a ribbon or string! Voilà! (It’s also a good way to not ruin the party and have to ask people to be careful to not tear the paper while unwrapping their gifts!)
You’re a magazine addict like myself? Use pages to wrap your box! It’s like a jigsaw puzzle, fun!
Create your own gift tags and cards, simple or complex! All those piles if craft paper scraps will get a second life. (Check out this cool simple tag idea!)
Create your own envelope for your card (from magazine pages (I do that!) or any other paper laying around your desk).
Basically, personalize your gift wraps with what you already have, it makes everything all more special than a commercial wrap, and it cost much less!