Conventional Gift Wrapping - A Beautiful Disaster - Izabela Busby

Whether giving or receiving, a beautifully wrapped present is a planned, thought out and intricate thought process. There’s a lot behind the entire process. What will it be wrapped in? How will it be wrapped? What ribbons? Don’t forget the glittery card – oh and the gift tag too! But is it all worth the 545 tons of waste that comes from wrapping during the Holidays? On average each person produces about 4 times more waste as a result of gift wrapping during the Holidays. FOUR!

A beautiful pile of garbage wrapped around a gift.

Typically gifts are wrapped in wrapping paper that cannot be recycled due to it’s plastic content. It’s usually adorned with glitter [a microplastic that should be banned worldwide or only used in a compostable manner against your worst enemies. Anyone remember the glitter bomb mail?] from the plastic coated gifts bags, plastic ribbons, plastic tape, stickers, tags and more. Don’t forget the packaging that all these items come in upon purchasing and preparing to wrap that perfect gift. The packaging of the gift, the packaging of the gift wrap, the packaging the tape roll came in, the plastic roller you put the tape in and so on. Have we thought about how these plastic infused gift wrap accessories cannot be recycled in most municipalities and end up contaminating the landfills?

Make sure to check your municipality

Anything metallic and glossy is a guarantee no no for recycling. If you live in Dufferin, Peel or Toronto stay away from plastic #6 Polystyrene as it cannot be recycled. Styrene monomer is a type of molecule that can leach into foods and is a possible human carcinogen. Most places still don’t accept it in foam forms because it’s 98% air.

Use what you have

The simplest, most environmentally friendly and least expensive option you have is using what you already have. Ta da – it’s really that easy. Get yourself a box or two or three and get ready to collect.

Collect and reuse what you have.
- Reuse those old [plastic coated] gift bags, tissue paper, packaging peanuts, shredded paper. If you have to buy something, check your local buy and sell or auction for a gift wrapping lot – I’ve always seen some at auction and they go for about $3.00 and you’re saving it from going to the landfill.
- Make tags from scrap paper, paper you have or old cards. Start a small shoe box of greeting cards you get and collect and reuse them as tags or card covers. I love re-reading the messages as I go through them picking one to reuse.
- Reuse and collect paper. Old newspapers, flyers, magazines, calendars [if you still use paper ones], kraft paper, LCBO and other paper bags, book pages and tissue paper. I suggest having a box set aside in your storage room for easy access so you can drop pieces in and grab what you need when you need it.
- Reuse ribbons and string. You know what I”m going to say …. get a box for this and begin collecting.
- Reuse a piece of fabric [a scarf, t-shirt, sweater or old tea towel]. Again, get a box for scraps and learn to wrap with fabric using the Japanese furoshiki method. If a gift already comes wrapped or in a jar or bag, leave it. If it’s beautiful on its own, leave it – add a reusable ribbon and a tag from old cards.

If you’re looking for a way to wrap something simpler check out our tutorial on how to wrap a shipping box here.

Shop small

Invest in sustainable wrapping options from small and or local businesses.

Check The Creemore Refillery and say Hello to Jacquie & Andy. In Orangeville there’s the brand new The Village Refillery in the Mill street plaza. Grassroots Eco Refills is a mobile delivery service [in Dufferin County] run by a Mom and her two young daughters. Guelph has The Eco Den that just celebrated their one year anniversary. If you’re headed to cottage country and going through Orillia, stop by in the Refillery District. Toronto’s first package-free shop is Bare Market. For all you West end folks, Burlington has the Refillery Market.

Get some paper tape or get creative with wrapping and don’t use any at all. Try melted wax with a stamp to seal.

Lots of local shops are selling economical reusable wrapping paper and fabrics right now. Wrappr is a great reusable option – every design is original and created by local Toronto Artists. $2.00 of the sale goes to the Artist. I’ve also used wraps from LUSH to wrap gifts and keep all my cosmetic items wrapped up like a hobo bag. Remember, use what you have!

*Bundle of two prints from the Wintergreen Collection by Jenna Caswell.*

Need filler to protect fragile items? Shred up some paper. Rip it with your hands. Reuse packaging peanuts and other air filled shipping products. There’s new packaging peanuts that are made of soy and dissolve upon adding water. You can flush them down the sink or toilet. Save and reuse these because why not? Saves you money and resources.

Get creative

Wrap it and let the kids colour on it, or not. Whatever you have time and patience for. I have been on both spectrums. I’ve even gone as far as not wrapping the gift at all and just giving it to the person. I didn’t have time or patience to wrap it how I had planned and I refused to buy more plastic wrapping – although I have been known to do that on other occasions. Balance.

Pickles from the garden for a friend’s birthday – no wrapping necessary. It’s okay to ask for the jar back when they’re finished or give them ideas on how to reuse it themselves. Perfect size for leftovers if you’re not a canning person.

*A punch through gift box I made from a TV box and tissue paper. I hid my niece’s scooter this way. Epic, I know.*

Elear’s 3rd Birthday I cut out dinosaur paws from a sponge and stamped kraft paper. I felt bad not “going the extra mile” because I was 1 year postpartum with Luna so this was my attempt as killing the Mom guilt. This is a level 1/10 in my gift wrapping because I knew it could have been better but my child loved it and that’s all that matters. She still talks about it to this day. Maybe I was a little hard on myself?

Christmas 2019 when the kids were 4 & 2. It was a busy time in life and I decided on the plastic gift wrapping. It killed my soul wrapping it and buying it and when I looked at it I saw destruction of the planet with my kids smiles wrapped up. I buried those thoughts and feelings and just embraced and enjoyed the Holidays as they were – we were together, happy and healthy. I promised myself I’d do better next time, when I had the time, patience and resources. Did you notice the canvas Santa sacks I made while I was pregnant with Elara?!

Make a Santa sack or support small and buy one from a local Artist/business. Don’t know where to find one or who makes them? Ask your local community group.

*Fabric scraps from old projects, twine, canvas and packaging paper can all be reused to wrap something beautifully.*

A 3 foot tall canvas bag I made from canvas, fabric swatches and fabric glue. Canvas was leftover from my Workshop class in Design school. It’s literally canvas you paint on. I wanted clean crip edging on the letter and I knew I couldn’t hand sew that so I folded the edges under and fabric glued it down. Now we have a second child and I need to make one with the letter L because she is old enough to notice she doesn’t have one and will get upset. I will have to find and allocate time for this – thank you to my OCD, environmental Mom guilt soul.

Add texture via string, ribbons, crumpled paper, nature elements [pine cones, sticks and twigs, greenery and foliage like pin, cedar, eucalyptus and more], spices [dry or fresh herbs], stamping, paint, wax crayons, treats & more.

Crumple up some shipping paper for added texture and use a wire ribbon for easy manipulation.

Splatter paint on it. Make a mess and have some fun.

Overcome the awkward feeling of being THAT gift

Just do it. Be proud. Use those moments as teachable moments if you have to. People don’t like to be told what to do. Just show them; show them how and why. They will come around. Watch, wait and see.

This year for the girl’s Birthday I was blown away and taken by surprise when I saw the gifts and how guests wrapped them. Many used the shipping paper to wrap gifts, used a piece of fabric or didn’t wrap it at all. Some had the kids draw on the packaging and most made their own cards – a 3D interactive pop up one too might I add!

*I always deconstruct the gifts and place into a box in storage ready to be reused.*

The act of gift giving includes the wrapping

In my opinion this is just as important and needs the same thought and planning. It’s all about seeing that person’s reaction when they first see your wrapped gift and having them feel so special, even if just for a moment. I promise you that when you take the time gift wrap more mindfully it will become an experience the person getting the gift won’t forget and they will appreciate the gift that much more because of the experience they had receiving the gift and opening it. The person will see that time was taken into the thought of what was going to be used to wrap the gift and how. Then time is taken to also carefully unwrap these mindful gifts because friends and family know the thoughts and love that went into these special gifts. And maybe they want to reuse the wrapping and are careful not to rip it!

Will you possibly offend someone with your reused gift wrapping? I highly doubt it and if so then maybe you don’t need those people in your life? If for whatever reason someone does then this is your opportunity to insert an teachable moment. Or you can just soak it up and ignore it and wonder why you spent any time getting this person a gift and maybe re-think who you exchange/purchase gifts with/for and why.

Will you be talked about after the party because of your reused gift wrapping? Possibly. No guarantees but maybe that’s a good thing? Perhaps they’re admiring your creativity and mindfulness. Perhaps they’re jealous and admire your creativity. Don’t assume the worst.

What is your typical go to gift wrapping style? What will you try different this Holiday? What did you learn in this post? Tag me in your mindful/reused gift wrapping adventure!

Disclaimer | This post is not sponsored in any way. All of the opinions are my own. All the suggestions are just suggestions.