I’m trying to live a more sustainable, eco-friendly lifestyle. Here’s some hacks and tips I’ve pick up along the way to reduce your footprint!

It’s the season for gift gifting! It’s also the season for tape, plastic, glitter, and paper waste…sigh. What if there was a way to wrap presents that was eco friendly and used recycled materials, all while limiting waste? Well, I’m here to show you some options to do just that!

Gift wrapping can be beautiful, eco-friendly, and wow all your friends and family! I pulled together some tips, and items, to make this sustainable wrapping a reality.

Recycled Trader Joes Bags

Those Trader Joes grocery bags (or other brown paper grocery bags) you get are great for a variety of purposes, including wrapping! If the pattern isn’t quite your jam, you can really upgrade them with a bit of creative juice. Cut open the bag to make a large sheet of brown kraft paper. Before you wrap the gift, you can do some things to the paper to make it look like a professional paper. Try stamping it with stampers, or even use leaves to create a natural stamp.

Once you wrap your gift, tie on some twine and a gift tag (maybe even some sticks or a piece of pine), to go for the classic kraft look with the rustic Christmas charm.

Save Those Gift Bags

When you’re shopping, often times your purchases will be put in gift bags (or paper shopping bags). When they’re smaller, the bags make a great repurposed gift bag! Just add some tissue paper (you can even sometimes use what came with the gift). I’ve used bags from Anthropologie and Sephora before, and I find small businesses are more likely to give unbranded bags that are great to decorate!

Natural Decorations

I love the idea of taking natural items and turning them into a great package decoration (rather than using plastic, foil, and glitter that’s bad for then environment). A quick trip outside will bring you lots of things to use, like pine, pine cones, and branches. I also love the idea of dehydrating orange slices and using them on the gifts (read more on how to do this here)!

Thrift Store Finds

For my DIY gifts this year, I am set on repurposing some small baskets and containers I found at the thrift store into useful little gift baskets! It’s a great way to give second life to a used item.

Reuse Old Wrapping

One thing I do to reduce waste is to keep bits and bobs from wrapping that I can reuse. This includes tags, gift bags, ribbons, bows, and sometimes paper depending on the condition. I don’t think I ever have given a gift with all new wrapping items, and sometimes it’s funny for people to recognize an element from the past!

So, will you be using any of these eco-friendly, sustainable hacks to wrap your presents? Show me if you do by tagging me on Instagram @makennalenover!

All thoughts and opinions are my own.