Wrapping gifts sustainably: 7 ideas

A mountain of presents under the Christmas tree is nice, but a mountain of wrapping paper waste at the end of the evening is not necessary! However, because we are of course delighted when our GRIMM'S products end up under your Christmas tree and make children's eyes sparkle, we have collected ideas on how to make presents as beautiful and sustainable as possible without using coated glitter paper.

11 December 2023
Nachhaltigkeit
Marie

Classic wrapping paper is only there to wrap a gift once, then be torn into pieces when unwrapping and then end up in the bin - uncoated in the paper waste and coated in the residual waste. This is not only a shame, but also not sustainable at all. Yet there are so many great ways to wrap gifts beautifully. We have collected some of them and would be delighted if we could inspire many of you to try to minimize the amount of waste under the Christmas tree this year.

1. cartons / shoe boxes / parcels

A lot of things are ordered online, especially before Christmas. One or two parcels arrive at home and the paper bin can hardly keep up. Simply save the intact boxes and use them as gift wrapping. Of course, you can pimp them as you wish with colours, beautiful strings, fabric remnants, beads and much more.

Wrapping gifts sustainably, cartons, shoe boxes, parcels — Packaging made from shoe box and fabric remnants

2. cloth bag / cloth pouch

A bag or pouch made of fabric has the advantage that it can be easily reused after unpacking. If you like, you can, for example, paint a fabric bag with fabric paint or make tags from pieces of paper or beads. Even children will enjoy doing this. And then you can use the bags for freshly baked bread or for shopping.

Wrapping gifts sustainably, cloth bag, cloth pouch — Small fabric bag with DIY pendant

3. children's art

Do your children also produce masses of self-drawn works of art on paper every day and you don't know where to put them? It's best to collect them first and then simply wrap the presents with them when the next occasion comes up. The recipients will be delighted with the colourful children's art and the little artists will be super proud that their work has been given such a special place.

Wrapping gifts sustainably, children's art — Piles of children's art become personalised packaging

4. fabrics / cloths / furoshiki technique

How great do presents look that are wrapped in beautiful fabrics? Somehow they are also immediately valuable and special! We're not the only ones who think so - it's also a long-standing tradition in Japan, where beautiful cloths, known as furoshiki, are often used for wrapping. Based on this furoshiki technique, any cloth can be used and then the diagonally opposite corners can be tied together. Large scraps of fabric, muslin cloths or silk scarves are ideal for this.

Wrapping gifts sustainably, fabrics, cloths, furoshiki technique — Step 1

5. newspapers / magazines / old booklets

Before entire newspapers, magazines or discarded old booklets are thrown away, it is definitely worth going through them again for beautiful pictures or text passages. This way, they still fulfill a useful purpose and the packages that are created from them look totally stylish!

Wrapping gifts sustainably, newspapers, magazines, old booklets — Creative combinations of old newspapers and magazines

6. use wrapping paper several times

If you still have a lot of wrapping paper at home or receive gifts wrapped in wrapping paper, you can reuse it several times. It is often not completely intact after unwrapping, but undamaged pieces can be easily smoothed out, unsightly adhesive strips cut off and it's ready for the next round.

Wrapping gifts sustainably, use wrapping paper several times — Far too beautiful to be used just once

7. unpacked

With very large gifts, the question naturally arises as to how sensible it is to wrap them at all if you have to empty an entire roll of wrapping paper just for that. If the unwrapping itself is not quite so important to you, you can simply set it up with aesthetically pleasing gifts, such as our step pyramid, and let it work its magic under the Christmas tree.

Wrapping gifts sustainably, unpacked — Unpackaged is trendy and can also be really beautiful

Easy-peasy-low-budget decoration

To make the wrapped gifts a little more individual, you can now add various little things that you can usually find at home or in the garden anyway and the parcel is ready for its glamorous appearance under the Christmas tree. Natural materials, such as small twigs, cones, dried leaves and otherwise strings, beads or stickers are particularly suitable. Star pendants made from our wooden beads are easy to make and make great Christmas decorations for the tree. Filling material from parcels or small scraps of old wrapping paper can also be turned into pretty star or name pendants.

Wrapping gifts sustainably, star pendants made of GRIMM'S beads — Star pendant made from GRIMM'S beads

We are looking forward to a cozy Christmas with as little waste as possible and are curious to hear whether you have implemented one or the other idea or what other sustainable gift wrapping ideas you have for us!