It’s nice to make a gift look as nice on the outside as it is on the inside. But it doesn’t need to cost a lot of money or use a lot of resources. The more we can reuse, recycle and reduce the better. Recycled gift wrap can still be really beautiful though, check out these ideas.

I’ve put together a collection of gift wrapping ideas that use recycled materials that you may well have already.

1) Make gift bags from old envelopes

2) Make sweet little pillow pouches from toilet paper tubes

3) Last year’s cards become small gift boxes

4) That box that those business cards came in? Turn it into a gift box for a special gift

5) Left over wall paper and yarn makes for a pretty gift wrap idea

6) An old jewellery box and a magazine can be combined into a pretty gift box

7) Any sturdy packaging box can be turned into a sweet gift box

8) Save packaging paper (this came with an Ikea delivery) for your festive gift wrap, combined with a paper napkin flower it can make quite an impact

9) Scraps of fabric can be used to make tassels for your parcels

10) By making gift bags from fabric you can cut paper waste down considerably. Just make sure that whoever you gift them to knows that they are supposed to be gifted on again next year!

11) Don’t forget the gift tags, repurpose the cards you received last year to make easy gift tags for free!

12) The leg of an old pair of jeans can be repurposed into a reusable gift bag for wine and other bottles, Threading my Way shows you how.

13) These super cute gift jars by Sustain my Craft Habit were just old glass food jars that have been painted

14) Reuse Grow Enjoy repurposed packaging from online shopping deliveries as rustic gift wrap

15) Old shoe boxes make perfect gift boxes, Upcycle my Stuff show you how to wrap them really neatly

16) Vintage fabric can make beautiful gift wrap, The Boondocks Blog shows you how to repurpose it

17) Old sewing patterns can sometimes be picked up at Charity Shops and Garage Sales for next to nothing, or maybe you have a drawer full. Dukes and Duchesses uses pattern paper to wrap gifts and added a tulle bow

18) Red Ted Art used old comics to make these gift bags. Magy used them as party bags but they’d be perfect for any gifts wouldn’t they?

19) Gifting Cookies? A Baker’s House has a brilliant Pringle box upcycled idea

20) Make pretty gift bows from old book pages, Dukes and Duchesses show you how. This idea would work great with old magazines or comics too.

21) Got an old t-shirt with a hole or two in it, why not turn it into a t-shirt gift bag?

22) Decorate plain gift by making a fun garland from old comic books garland to wrap around it.

23) Make gift bags from the pages of old books.

24) Empty glass jars make great gift containers, you can make matching gift tags with scraps of fabric too.

25) Another gift bag idea made from the pages of old books.

26) Got a box of old business cards lying in a drawer somewhere? Why not turn them into gift tags using pages from old magazines.

27) If a gift comes in the post in the perfect sized box you can turn it into a pretty gift box with cut outs from old magazines.

28) Plain paper bags can be made into pretty gift bags.

Julie

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