Don’t forget newspapers and magazines as sources of paper, too. I pull an interesting page out of a magazine and wrap my smaller gifts with that. In the old days I used to use the “funny pages” out of the Sunday paper. If you don’t get any newspapers, you still get those direct mail pieces. Wrap a food gift in a Safeway or other grocery announcement. Endless possibilities.

I was at a shop in Phoenix this weekend called “Tuesday Morning.” They are liquidators that carry a lot of wonderful things at deep discounts. They had some of those little foldable shopping bags made of recycled plastic. These fold up to the size of a deck of cards and fit in your purse, but can hold as much as a regular paper grocery bag. So I bought several and used them to wrap some of my gifts.

Another more ambitious way is to make your own paper. Take all those advertising flyers, old newspapers, and mail you want to shred, and put it through your cross shredder. Now you have the beginnings of pulp. Type in “make your own paper” into your search engine and you’ll find many wonderful resources for making various types of paper. Not only can you make wrapping paper, you can make scrapbook paper and writing paper. It’s a fun and creative way to recycle.

Thanks for wonderful suggestions!
Beth

I used to live in Europe. In many shops there, they will ask if your purchase is a gift and then do the wrapping on the spot…and make it look classy too. A real time-saver and good customer service.

I love using gift tins because they can be reused in so many ways.