Eco-friendly gift wrapping paper: 10 ideas to inspire you and to avoid unnecessary waste at Christmas

Like every year, the Christmas period is when we make more purchases, especially to get gifts for loved ones. When it comes to presenting the gifts, tradition has it that they are always wrapped in fancy paper and similar. Sometimes, the packages are so beautiful and elaborate that it almost a shame to open them (and throw away the wrapping). But these wrappings and decorations can be damaging to the environment. In short, it's a lot of waste for something that often ends up in the trash.

With a little inventiveness, however, this problem can be circumvented, and an eco-friendly gift-wrapping alternative can be used. Check out the ideas below:

Newspapers are an excellent gift-wrap alternative for those who buy them frequently. In fact, newspaper sheets are often the perfect gift wrapping. And all you need extra is some string and twigs to decorate the package with.

Recycled paper: brown paper is often used to wrap gifts, but white sheets are an excellent alternative.

At first glance, monochromatic paper may seem less attractive than traditional Christmas wrapping paper, but it is also true that monochromatic paper can become the perfect background for decorating using twigs, berries, leaves and many other natural elements (even spices or sliced dried fruit).

In case you have scraps of wool laying around, you can use these instead of ribbons or string, even making handmade pom-poms that are cuter than disposable rosettes.

Have you ever thought about painting on the bows?

Among the materials that can be used for wrapping there are also raw fabrics with a rustic taste, such as jute/burlap and other natural fibers.

For an gift which is a bottle of something, you could recycle an old sweater or scarf to wrap it in. Whoever receives the bottle will have a vase as soon as the contents have been consumed!

A lesson from the East: wrapping parcels in scraps of fabric, which everyone then can reuse as they wish. They can even become scarves or foulards!

For a small-sized gift, you can use cardboard tubes (like toilet paper inners) wrapped in recyclable paper and made to look like candies.

And if the gift is really important, then why not use a nice cloth bag that the recipient can reuse in a thousand ways?

Just a little advance prep with the right materials, and you can avoid a lot of unnecessary waste at Christmas!