Christmas Wrapping

Last minute have-to-do's!

Regardless of the fact that I haven't started wrapping any of my presents (save this one), I thought I'd share one of my favorite eco-tricks for wrapping gifts.

While sometimes I'll snag some wrapping paper from my parents, or even buy some recyclable gift wrap (Earth Presents, a company I work with occasionally, creates recyclable gift wrap from 100% post-consumer content - because most gift wrap can NOT be recycled due to the shine and sparkle in it), I'll wrap my smaller gifts in old magazine sheets.

I hate the look of gifts wrapped in newspaper, but magazines have such pretty pictures and end up looking really great covering a gift.  This gift doesn't yet have ribbon or a tag, but the addition of that will make this gift presentable (hahahaha, sorry).

To wrap your gift in 100% post consumer content:
Items needed:
- magazine
- tape, double-sided if you want to get all Martha Stewart-esque
- scissors
- gift
Time: 3 minutes
Cost: $0 - I save magazines from years ago... I still have my YM magazines.  Yes, they stopped publishing that in 2004... I know.
Instructions:
1) find a page or spread that you think would look good as wrapping
2) rip out the pages (or cut them out if you are more patient than I am)
3) tape the pages together if there are two pages (because I ripped my pages out, I fold them over to make the seam prettier)
4) wrap like you would a regular gift

And now you have perfectly functional gift wrap.  It does work best for smaller items, so I'll have to get a little more creative for the larger gifts.