With the holidays approaching, I thought this would be a good time to make a post about frugal gift wrap ides.
Gift Bags:
1. Use freecycle to ask for gift bags that people may be throwing out.
2. When you attend a baby or wedding shower or other event, ask if you can have the gift bags if people are going to throw them out.
3. Make your own reusable gift bags out of fabric or paper grocery bags (use stickers, stamps, paint, etc). You could also knit or crochet bags or containers to put items in.
Wrapping Paper:
1. Check freecycle for wrapping paper. There was at least one post this year (2010) for free Christmas gift wrap! You can also post a want add for it.
2. Buy wrapping paper at the dollar store, garage sales or 50% off sales during or after Christmas.
3. Buy gift wrap that you can use year-round. Example, solid color reds, golds, silvers etc. Also plaid or diamond patterns. I once found a red/white/green flowery pattern that I used for female gifts for quite awhile!
4. Use newspaper, especially the comics section as gift wrap.
5. Make your own gift wrap by decorating paper shopping bags with paint, stickers, etc.
6. Use brown postal wrapping paper and decorate using paint, stickers, stamps etc.
7. My mom has used wallpaper she gets from garage sales as gift wrap. I am not sure I recommend this though, as it seems it is sometimes hard to keep it taped down.
8. Make potato print wrapping paper using either tissue paper or butcher paper. Have done this for decades. You simply cut a potato in half and then carve a design, and then dip in paint and then on the paper. Let dry. Sometimes while the paper is still wet I will sprinkle extra fine glitter on.
9. Dry pretty flowers and leaves between old telephone book pages and then glue these on to a plain wrapping paper and then use tissue paper over that paper to make a French style wrapping paper where the flat dried flowers and leaves appear beneath the tissue paper.
Gift Tags:
1. Save Christmas cards people send you each year. Cut out the photos or words and turn them into gift tags.
2. Use Microsoft Word and some Avery labels to make gift tags. You can put the to: and from: on there along with some pretty holiday graphics.
3. Print some tags up with these free links. To make them easier print on full sheet sticker paper and cut out
http://www.frugalmom.net/blog/2008/12/free-gift-tags/comment-page-1/ (download pdf document, click on “right click to download gift tags” but I think its really left click)
http://frugalliving.about.com/od/christmas/a/Free_Christmas_Gift_Tags.htm
4. If you really must buy gift tags, at least wait until there is a buy 1 get 1 free or 50% off sale. I think Walgreens has a buy 1 get 2 free sale at least once a year on them.
Other Resources:
http://frugalliving.about.com/od/specialoccasions/tp/Christmas_Wrap.htm
