12 DIYs of Christmas: Recycled Gift Wrap Ideas

It’s Christmas morning. Everyone is gathered in the lounge room for the main event – it’s present time! The gifts are handed out from under the tree. As they’re opened, slowly but surely the floor disappears under a sea of wrapping paper.

Those presents that sat perfectly wrapped under the tree for weeks have now been opened, and the intricate, beautiful wrapping has done it’s job.

The magic has disappeared as everyone is directed to scrunch up all the paper and put it in the giant garbage bag being passed round the room.

If you’re anything like me, wrapping is one of the best bits of Christmas presents. It’s an opportunity to put a little care and creativity into gift giving. But it does crush me to see allll that paper go to waste. Wrapping paper really is a ‘one-and-done’ type product!

Today’s Christmas DIY is all about being creative with your gift wrapping by finding recycled products to use!

Through this DIY I’ve given a bunch of my items a second life and haven’t had to buy any wrapping paper.

So! Let’s take a look at a few recycled gift wrap ideas that can be tailored to your gift recipient.

Five Recycled Gift Wrap Ideas

Newspaper Wrapping

Wrapping with newspaper is great for larger gifts.  This may not seem overly glamorous, but I was still able to find a few newspaper sheets that worked great for wrapping! Check out the editorial or interest pieces. The one I used had a bunch of botanical illustrations and information on it, making it a perfect gift wrap for nature lovers or crazy plant people.

Calendar Pages

What about using pages from the past year’s calendar? They’re a cleaner, graphic look. Bonus points for matching the month to the recipient’s Birthday!

Magazine Editorials & Advertorials

Friend that’s into fashion? Or crazy about branding? Flick through a magazine to find an edgy page to wrap their special-something in! This was a fun one.

I can be a bit of a collector myself, and brought back a couple of magazines from our trip to Europe (including a free airline mag). So finding a new way to use them was so fun! And a bit of French never goes astray.

Posters

Posters are great for covering bigger presents. I’m sure most people would be able to find an unused poster in their house too – whether it’s sitting in the back of a cupboard or is still sitting in a magazine as a pull-out.

Maps

Again, I love bringing home maps from our trip but unfortunately, they rarely see the light of day when they arrive home. Maybe you shared a trip with a friend or partner? What a great sentimental touch to use a map from that time for their gift!

With a bit of creativity, these recycled gift wrap ideas can take your Christmas wrapping can take on a whole other level on Christmas morning (without feeling too bad about chucking it afterwards…)! Don’t forget to check out the other 12 DIYs of Christmas too!