Sustainable Gift Wrap

I love creating a new theme or direction for my gift wrapping each year. Although I can pretty easily get sucked in to pretty paper, bows, ribbons and gift tags galore, last year I was sure to make my gift wrap simple and something that the recipient can then re-use. We all know 99% of gift wrap ends up in the trash and it felt really good to not create unnecessary waste. So this year, I took a similar approach to my gift wrapping.

Rather than using a plain, white flour sack dishtowels, like I did last year, I decided to make it a little more colorful and playful and used some napkins that can obviously then be reused by the recipient. Any fabric is a great, sustainable option when gift wrapping. Get creative and use a handkerchief, scarf, tea towel, or even a reusable shopping bag that the person receiving can then go on to use beyond the holiday season.

Sustainable Gift Wrap for the Holidays - A Fabulous Fete

Rather than the typical ribbon, bows, etc. I went ahead and tucked different elements into the fabric or used a cotton string to tie a little something extra to each gift, which is really another gift in itself! I used dried citrus, dried florals, and a filled ornament to top each gift. After opening, the ornament can then easily be added to the recipients tree year after year. The dried flowers can go in a bud vase or used in other arrangements. The dried citrus can be used as an ornament as well, or used in decor like we did in the AFF office.