Clever, Pretty Eco-Wrapping for Your Christmas Presents

by Bonnie Alter, London on 12.23.08
Fashion & Beauty (accessories)

future-present wrap presents photo

Our friends at Inhabitat posted this ingenious list of eco-friendly ways to wrap presents and we had to pass it on. Called Future Present, they are the result of a challenge to fellow designers to find alternatives to the waste that is our usual Christmas wrapping.

Twenty of the best ideas -- all tape-free -- are shown, on the design agency's website. For anyone still packing up presents tonight, there are some very creative ideas. The wrappings include foil, clothes pins, socks, string, brown paper and fabric. Get inspired by the cool pics after the fold.

wrapping  in a sock photo

A good use for your nice red stray sock...

foil wrapping photo

Always a favourite.

hot-water bottle wrap photo

I wonder what this is...


checked clothes-peg photo

A colourful and delightful solution. Future Present Via : Inhabitat


More on Green Christmas

12 Easy Green Alternatives to Wasteful Gift Wrap

Holiday Guide: Give Green to Save Green

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Comments (12)

I can't believe they missed my favourite trick: save up and use the funnies/ comics page from your local newspaper....kids especially love them. Really, any interesting graphic will do.

jump to top yoshhash [TypeKey Profile Page] says:

Ditto yoshhash. For anyone trying it for the first time I try to make sure I send a whole comic to a person, even if its split up into several gifts. My grandmother could wrap a present in paper with no tape, but I'm not that skilled and I still rely on Scotch

jump to top Pat says:

I use to recycle old easter-eggs-paper (eheh!)... colourful newspaper sheets... wax paper for the cookies... But my favourite solution is giving the packaging AS a present :-) I think is pretty nice when you can re-use your present box for keep your stuffs... so I choose robust boxes and possibly I coat them with pictures, images, cuts out and so on!

jump to top Agnese Brasca [TypeKey Profile Page] says:

I find some of those interesting, but the sock and giant clothespin just bug me. I think it's because the sock looks ridiculous, and I can't for the life of me figure out why anyone would want to keep an ugly giant clothespin around.

jump to top Syera says:

I once wrapped a whole bunch of candles individually using the comic pages and raffia. I rolled the candles up like a tootsie pop and then tied raffia to both ends. both the comic pages and the raffia can be put in the recycling bin after use.

Zig

jump to top zig says:

I once used colorful Chinese newspapers I picked up in New York's Chinatown to wrap presents. Anything your giftees will find exotic or different or relevant can be good. Old "blueprints" (now giant photocopies, really) are great for wrapping gifts for architects, engineers and such.

jump to top Richard Jackman says:

Plain old craft paper with colorful ribbon is classic.

jump to top brennan says:

I love the old architects blueprints -- a fave of mine. Or an old maps of the world book, tossed to the trash. Pages of old books -- really old books, that no one will read, as well as old mags. Exotic and cool.

This year my kids and I used newspaper for wrapping paper. We wrote all over it with colored markers in red and green and painted the persons name on top. It actually looks very cute. We also made a paste out of flour and water and used that instead of tape.

jump to top Hope says:

My Family for years have used cloth bags that we just give back to each other. We made a bunch the first year and have added the odd one over the years. They are colourful, Christmasy and no waste at all.

jump to top kd says:

My Family for years have used cloth bags that we just give back to each other. We made a bunch the first year and have added the odd one over the years. They are colourful, Christmasy and no waste at all.

jump to top kd says:

And remember, most Christmas wrapping paper can be composted, so if one of your less-than-green relatives gave you something in 'normal' paper, and it was too covered in tape to reuse the paper next year, compost it!

Several brands of sticky tape will biodegrade too (ie sellotape) and if it doesn't, you'll be able to find it in the mature compost and take it out then.

So add the carbon to your soil... you know it makes sense!
'Compost' John in York, UK

jump to top John Cossham says:

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