Christmas Gift Wrapping: A More Sustainable + Eco-Friendly Take

HolidaysEco Christmas
Written By By Henrietta

Christmas, oh how we love you. Fairy lights on green trees, the spicy aroma of freshly baked goodies, an excuse to listen to corny Christmas music and a magical feeling of excitement in the air.

December truly is an enchanting time of year. However, it can also take its toll on the environment and its inhabitants. Giving and receiving presents is great; we love spreading the love. But it does mean that a lot of wrapping paper goes in to landfill. Lets fix that.

Here are some ideas for more sustainable & environmentally-friendly gift wrapping:

1: Up-Cycled Wrapping Paper

Try creating your own exquisite, unique wrapping paper by reusing unwanted newspapers, magazines and books - saving both trees and money! We love doing this on gift-giving occasions, and trust us, the results can look seriously lovely!

 

2: Make the Wrapping Itself  a Gift

Scarves, tea towels and blankets all function as excellent gift wrap. It can be fun to make it relevant to the presents inside too - think kitchenwares wrapped in a beautiful towel, or jewellery in an exquisite vintage scarf. The gift receiver will certainly appreciate your efforts!

 

3: Reuse Glass Jars + Bottles

This works fantastically when giving people delicious foodie treats. A jar of homemade truffles or cookies would certainly go down well. Find some festive baking ideas on an earlier post of ours here.

 

4: Eco Cards + Gift Tags

Make your own cards and gift tags out of old gift paper and cards - there are often gorgeous vintage ones to be found in second hand stores, or reuse materials from gifts you've previously received.

Alternatively, try to buy cards made from recycled materials. You get bonus points if their purchase price helps create positive change - like these recycled cotton cards from Raven + Lily, featured in this post.

 

Image credits: linked from Pinterest (click through on images to visit).

By Henrietta

Henrietta is the 'daughter' half of the Future King & Queen mother-daughter duo, and is the face you'll find in front of a camera. She strives to live gently on this earth, and to make the world a kinder, fairer place.

Henrietta is a recent graduate with a degree in Commerce + a diploma in French, and has a passion for using business skills to drive positive social change. She works in ethical fashion, and is also a model for ethical and sustainably minded brands (drop her a line here if you'd like to work with her). 

After being vegetarian for many years, and gradually transitioning towards veganism, she attended a panel discussion 2 years ago on the dairy industry (held by Voiceless). From then on, it made complete sense to commit to a fully vegan lifestyle, as a way of being compassionate towards animals, the environment and people.

It was then a natural progression to consider the impacts of her other daily decisions, and so her interest in ethical fashion and sustainably minded living in general was born.

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