Whether you’re celebrating a birthday or meandering through the wintertime holiday season, if you’re surprising loved ones or friends with gifts, then your shopping list most likely includes gift wrap.
That may beg the question: how can you reuse gift wrap? Why would you even want to reuse gift wrap?
Think of it this way: in addition to being expensive (you can easily spend up to $10 per roll these days for fancy wrapping paper), wrapping paper also consumes a lot of natural resources, including trees and water, which are used in the manufacturing process.
So, it makes sense then that reusing wrapping paper would be a wonderful way to both help reduce our impact on the environment and also to stretch the most benefit from the resources that we’ve already used.
30 Fun Ways To Reuse Gift Wrap
Grab a pair of scissors, some tape and glue, and get started on any of these fun ideas to reuse gift wrap:
#1 – Use small rectangular or square cuttings from the wrapping paper as gift tags
#2 – Incorporate gift wrap into decorations
#3 – Use the white side of the gift wrap as scratch paper
#4 – Save remnants of the gift paper to wrap small gifts for the next holiday
#5 – Use the paper to wrap delicate ornaments before putting them in storage
#6 – Make framed holiday wall art
#7 – Use the paper to line the insides of drawers or tops of shelves
#8 – Decorate the outside of cans to make festive office supply holders
#9 – Shred old gift wrap and use the shredded gift wrap to stuff gift bags and boxes
#10 – Use the gift wrap as scrapbooking material
#11 – Create a holiday-themed book cover
#12 – Craft the scraps into little bows to decorate the outside of gift-wrapped boxes
#13 – Make holiday-themed bookmarks
#14 – Assemble the scraps into a cool paper wreath made entirely out of gift wrap
#15 – Make paper chains or bunting banners out of the gift wrap
#16 – Make envelopes from the gift wrap to send next holiday’s cards
#17 – Reuse gift wrap for paper-mache projects
#18 – Create a collage from your old gift wrap
#19 – Make origami creations from wrapping paper
#20 – Use crumpled-up gift wrap in boxes that are used to ship holiday gifts
#21 – Make holiday-themed coasters
#22 – Use gift wrap as a mat for framed art
#23 – Cut wrapping paper to make holiday doll clothing
#24 – Use gift wrap to line holiday envelopes
#25 – Use larger wrapping paper scraps to cover shoe boxes, making a themed storage box for ornaments and other holiday items
#26 – Create holiday-bedazzled snowflakes
#27 – Make gift box cummerbunds from old gift wrap
#28 – Decoupage the gift wrap on cardboard or hobby wood (balsa or luan) to make ornaments and other fun holiday crafts
#29 – Make holiday-themed pom poms from long shreds of old gift wrap
#30 – Fashion festive party hats from old gift wrap (simply make a cone, tape the seam, and size the bottom to the user’s head circumference)
We have lots more Fun Wrapping Paper Ideas and an awesome Pinterest board filled with DIY Gift Wrap Organizers & Storage Ideas.
As an advocate for good health, I usually try to choose the ‘greener’ option over other more dangerous and/or wasteful options. Generally speaking, if it’s bad for your health or the planet, I try to avoid it. In my effort to live green, I like to find new (healthier) budget-friendly ways to do things — from cleaning to recycling to home decorating. My goal is to help you take the chore out of living green by sharing fun new ecofriendly ideas that you can try today… or any day! My all-time favorite way to live green is to repurpose items and give them a new use — and I’ve written a lot of DIY articles showing how I’ve done it.
