Homemade and eco-friendly
3. Make it yourself
Butcher's wrap or brown paper bags from the supermarket not only wrap well, they also provide wonderful canvases for budding artists eager to help with Christmas preparations. Have the kids in your life spend an afternoon or two colouring plain brown wrap in Christmas scenes -- parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles will appreciate the wrap as much as the gift itself.
4. Recycle and re-use
Old newspapers -- especially the cartoon section -- make good wrap, especially if the whole family is in on the recycling effort. Recycled cookie tins also work well. If you have a family of careful un-wrappers, you may be able to recycle wrapping paper from one year to the next. If you are buying gift wrap this year, keep in mind (for next year!) that Christmas bags recycle very easily.
5. Be creative
Instead of wrapping large gifts, and in the process using up a lot of paper, hide the gifts away. Then wrap a set of clues in a small box, leave it under the tree and turn the gift-opening into a scavenger hunt.
Bonus tip:
Use cut-out pictures from old Christmas cards to make a colourful variety of name tags to suit the recipient of each gift.
This year, before you put the final ribbons and bows on your Christmas parcels, put some thought into your wrapping choices. Merry Christmas!
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