Gift Wrapping Ideas: 18 Clever and Inexpensive Ways

Before you head out and buy a roll of fancy gift wrap for the next birthday or holiday, try something you likely already have on the shelf. Whether you are trying to go green or just give your gifts a personal touch, these simple and inexpensive packaging and gift wrapping ideas will help you envelop your presents in love, and most of them cost next to nothing. Here are 18 of our favorites, plus a few finishing tricks to pull them together.

Why Reusable and Recycled Wrap Is Worth It

There is a practical reason to raid the recycling bin before the store. Americans throw away a great deal more around the holidays than they do the rest of the year. Stanford University’s recycling program reports that household waste in the United States grows by about 25 percent between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, which adds up to roughly 1 million extra tons of trash each week, much of it wrapping paper and gift bags. Their holiday waste prevention guide notes that if every family reused just two feet of holiday ribbon, the saved ribbon would stretch 38,000 miles, enough to tie a bow around the whole planet.

Most shiny, foil, or glitter-coated wrapping paper cannot be recycled, so it heads straight to the landfill the morning after. Nearly every idea below reuses something you already have, which is easier on your wallet and on the trash can. Plan a little, waste a little less.

18 Clever and Inexpensive Gift Wrapping Ideas

1. Let Mother Nature Inspire

Let Mother Nature serve as your inspiration for birthday or holiday gifts any time of year. Slip dried spring flowers, colorful fall leaves, or sprigs of rosemary or lavender, or pine, mistletoe, and holly at Christmas, into a ribbon or twine to upgrade plain kraft paper. If you tend a few herbs or cutting flowers, our Gardening by the Moon Calendar can help you time the harvest so you have fresh sprigs on hand.

2. Paint Your Canvas

Plain kraft paper is the perfect blank canvas. Hand-painted wraps are always a hit and a fine way to individualize each person’s gift. Try laying a large piece of kraft paper on the floor and splatter different colored paints, Pollock style, to quickly and easily create your own wrapping paper masterpiece.

3. Maps, Sheet Music, Book Pages, Crossword Puzzles

Vintage sheet music, old book pages, or old maps serve as a great graphic wrapping paper alternative. It is also a fine way for a Father’s Day present to stand out.

4. Hang an Ornament

Around Christmas, an ornament can serve as a gift, tag, and topper all in one. Try finding an initial or monogram ornament to match your recipient’s name.

5. Newspapers

Wrapping gifts in newspaper is both eye-catching and eco-friendly. It is the perfect way to recycle all your old Sunday papers while creating a black and white backdrop that makes a colorful ribbon pop. For a chuckle or two, wrap Dad’s Father’s Day gifts in the Sunday comics.

6. Burlap Bags

For those odd-shaped items that make wrapping tricky, reach for a bag instead. Burlap bags have an elegant, natural look and can be reused again and again.

7. Fabric

Furoshiki is a Japanese gift wrapping technique that uses fabric instead of paper. Not only would it be a beautiful addition under your tree this season, but the fabric can be reused, which makes it a greener choice. Try covering cardboard mailing tubes with eye-catching fabric for a reusable storage container. Decorative tea towels and dish towels also make great wrap. Look in your closets to see if you have any scarves or linens you could give new life to as wrapping.

8. Something Sweet

Attach something sweet to the ribbon of your package to really sweeten the deal. A candy cane, a wrapped chocolate, or a lollipop doubles as decoration and a bonus treat.

9. Chalkboard Wrap

Use black kraft paper and a white paint marker to turn any gift into a blackboard canvas. Write the recipient’s name right on top and no tags are necessary.

10. Tape

Washi tape, or festive masking tape found at craft stores, makes the perfect adornment for plain wrapping paper. This thin, decorative Japanese paper tape comes in dozens of colors and patterns. Get creative and build your own patterns and borders.

11. Recycle Cards To Make Tags, Art

Turn last year’s cards into this year’s gift tags, or decoupage them as art onto your gift boxes. Old photos and postcards also work well. Try using fancy craft scissors and ribbon to customize the shapes.

12. Stamp It

Give inexpensive kraft or butcher paper a makeover with woodblock stamps and ink. Potato- or apple-stamped paper is an old-school craft project that gets the kids involved. Cut a large white potato in half. Press a metal cookie cutter firmly into the potato half. Next, cut around the cookie cutter at about a 1/2-inch depth, so the potato inside the cutter protrudes to create a stamp. Dip it in paint and get decorating. Enlist your kids’ help.

13. Stencils

Acrylic craft paints and stencils are the perfect way to beautify plain white butcher paper. Snowflakes, stars, and simple monograms all read well from across the room.

14. CD Sleeves

Wrap individual homemade cookies in inexpensive paper CD sleeves, one in each sleeve, and some sleeves have windows so the cookie shows through. Stack them and wrap with baker’s twine. This yummy treat is the perfect way to say “Welcome to the Neighborhood” or “Happy Holidays” to your neighbors and co-workers.

15. Paper Gift Packets

Gift packets are a creative alternative to a standard gift bag or box. Try cutting two layers of kraft paper together in a chosen shape, such as a star, tree, or stocking. Put a small gift between the two shapes and do a simple stitch or whipstitch along the edges using colorful thread. Try this football gift packet for Father’s Day to wrap tickets.

16. Cut and Paste

Cut out fun shapes, animals, and flowers for Mother’s Day, or ties and mustaches for Father’s Day, from craft paper or card stock and glue them onto butcher paper for a simple, attractive wrapping paper design.

17. Think Outside the Box

Get creative repurposing items around the house to act as gift wrap. BBQ mitts make the perfect vessel for cookout tools. Empty toilet paper tubes are ideal for holding gift cards, and empty chip canisters are great for cookies since they come with a built-in lid.

18. Glass Mason Jar

Mason jars or cleaned-out glass containers are great for repurposing over and over again. Glass jars are wonderful for storing sweets, gift cards, hot chocolate mixes, homemade granola, or just about anything. The possibilities are endless for gifts in a jar. Tie a ribbon or baker’s twine around the top for a festive finish.

A Few Finishing Tricks to Pull It Together

A homemade wrap looks polished when the extras match. Pick one accent, twine, ribbon, or a natural sprig, and repeat it across every gift under the tree so the pile looks intentional rather than thrown together. A few small habits make the difference.

• Match the wrap to the occasion. Newspaper comics for Father’s Day, cut-paper flowers for Mother’s Day, brown kraft and greenery for Christmas.
• Sharpen your folds. Run a fingernail or a bone folder along each crease so the paper holds a crisp edge, the trick that separates store wrapping from kitchen-table wrapping.
• Layer your texture. Twine over kraft, a dried leaf over newspaper, or a single ornament over fabric. One natural element does more than a whole bag of bows.
• Keep a wrap box. Save gift bags, ribbon, tissue, and sturdy boxes in one bin so next year’s wrapping costs you nothing at all.

Furoshiki, the fabric method in idea 7, is the most reusable of all, and it takes only two knots. Lay the box in the center of a square cloth on the diagonal, bring two opposite corners up and over the top, then tie the remaining two corners in a double knot across the middle. The recipient gets a second gift, a length of cloth to wrap with next time.

A little planning makes the giving easier too. If you like to bake cookies or put up jam for gifts, our Best Days Calendar flags the traditional best days for baking and canning. And if the celebration is heading outdoors for a birthday or a cookout, check the long-range forecast for your region before you pick the date.

Gift Wrapping Ideas: Frequently Asked Questions

What can I use instead of store-bought wrapping paper?

Plenty of things you already own. Plain kraft paper, butcher paper, newspaper, old maps, sheet music, and book pages all work as wrapping paper. For a reusable option, use fabric, a scarf, a tea towel, or a burlap bag. Glass jars and gift packets handle the odd shapes.

Is newspaper a good gift wrap?

Yes. Newspaper is free, easy to recycle, and its black and white print makes a colorful ribbon pop. The Sunday comics add a playful touch, which is why they make a fun wrap for Father’s Day. Unlike foil or glitter paper, newspaper can go right back in the recycling bin afterward.

What is furoshiki?

Furoshiki is a traditional Japanese gift wrapping technique that uses a square of fabric instead of paper. You fold and knot the cloth around the gift, and the fabric can be reused again and again. It is one of the greenest ways to wrap, since nothing gets thrown away.

How do I wrap an odd-shaped gift without a box?

Skip the paper and use a container. A burlap bag, a fabric wrap, or a cleaned-out glass mason jar handles awkward shapes with no folding required. Empty toilet paper tubes hold gift cards, and chip canisters work for cookies since they come with a lid.

How can I make plain kraft paper look festive?

Kraft paper is a blank canvas. Splatter-paint it Pollock style, add potato or apple stamps, run washi tape in a pattern, or tuck a sprig of rosemary, a fall leaf, or a small ornament under the twine. One natural accent repeated across every gift makes the whole pile look intentional.

Is reusable gift wrap really better for the environment?

It helps. Stanford University’s recycling program reports that American household waste jumps about 25 percent over the holidays, and most shiny or glitter-coated paper cannot be recycled. Fabric, burlap, and jars get reused for years, and newspaper or kraft paper can be recycled, so both cut down on what heads to the landfill.