Spend a lot of money on wrapping paper? Here are a few creative ways to save money on wrapping paper so you don’t break your budget!
I love picking out and purchasing Christmas gifts for all my friends and family, but hands down, the wrapping of said gifts is my favorite part. In fact, I practically begged my grandparents to let me wrap gifts for all my cousins, aunts, and uncles. What can I say…..I simply swoon over pretty paper, ribbons and bows, and gorgeous gift tags!
But I do have to catch myself, lest I spend way too much on all the wrappings. Keeping it simple can look quite classy and sophisticated, and is a great reminder not to go overboard during the after-Christmas sales…..Ahem.
While there are tons of frugal ways to save on all sorts of gifting accessories, today, I just want to focus on gift wrap. Here’s how to make each roll last as long as possible, while still scoring all sorts of great deals when you do need to buy completely new!
While this might sound counter-intuitive, I truly believe saving money on gift wrap starts with a quality product.
I’ve spent more money, time, and frustration fighting with wrapping paper that crinkles, rips, tears, and looks absolutely horrible by the time I’m finished with it. Some of them are quite see-through too, which means you have to wrap the gift in tissue paper first, thus using up even more supplies.
My hands-down favorite place to buy quality gift wrap is CurrentCatalog.com. Their paper is so luxuriously thick and easy to work with, that I have vowed never to buy anywhere else. The prices are pretty decent too, and if you stock up after Christmas, you can score jumbo rolls for up to 75% off!
It’s so easy to cut gift wrap pieces much larger than intended, {or sometimes too small!} but even if you do measure correctly, you’re often left with scraps that eventually end up in the trash.
Save pieces that are big enough to wrap other gifts, and when you’ve finished up your wrapping session, layer them on top of one another and roll together to stow away for next year. I actually used to fold my gift wrap pieces, but then they had such ugly creases the next time I needed to wrap gifts. Needles to say, I roll them now!
For scraps that are not large enough to wrap another gift, turn them into bows. Here is a really cute tutorial!
If you run out of gift wrap before you’re finished wrapping gifts, don’t make an extra trip to the store. Instead, look around your house for some out-of-the-box but cute ideas!
Here are some of my favorites:
You don’t have to limit yourself to traditional gift wrap. In fact, you might enjoy finding creative ways to not use it!
Instead of trying to wrap an awkwardly shaped gift, let the packaging take center stage.
For example, if you are gifting a gourmet coffee bag and a mug, slip the bag into the mug and just add a bow. If you are gifting a fuzzy new throw in addition to a few other items, place the items in the center of the throw, gather the excess around the items and tie with a ribbon at the top so it’s a makeshift bag.
You can do the same things with laundry baskets, totes, purses, and photo storage boxes too. It’s like two gifts in one!
From The Frugal Girl
Ever since I saw this homemade gift bag tutorial on The Frugal Girl, I’ve been wanting to make a few of my own. They are so adorable and super thrifty!
You can sew them using fabric from your own stash, or cut apart old clothes that you or your kids aren’t wearing anymore. Thick velvet Christmas dresses, fuzzy fleece pajama pants, and chunky sweaters make really cute bags, and stretch the mileage of a previous decade’s fashion statement.
I especially like these for those awkward shaped gifts too, because you don’t have to go searching for the right size box, or fight with wrapping paper that no matter how hard you try to make it look nice. Just place your gift inside the bag and tie with a pretty ribbon. Best of all, you can reuse them year after year!
I love after-Christmas sales, but like I mentioned before, I do have a tendency to go a little overboard. I probably don’t need to buy wrapping paper for the next 5 years!
But truly, if you are running low on supplies, particularly wrapping paper, keep a notepad handy to write down what you need for the following year. Then head out after Christmas to scout some great Christmas deals.
Target usually has the best selection of items, but they only start their clearance at 30%. Although a lot will be picked through by the time it’s marked down to 70%, I would wait to see what you can find at that price, and then go back again when items are 90% off. Sometimes you can find better quality gift wrap there.
Even though we want our packages to look pretty and professional, you don’t need to sacrifice your budget for extravagant gift wrap. There are a ton of creative ways adorn your gifts without spending a dime, and that will leave room for the more important things — spending time with family and friends, and celebrating the true Reason for the season! You can download the Free Frugal Gift Guide HERE.
1. Buy Quality Gift Wrap
2. Reduce Paper Waste
3. Use What You Have….Creatively
4. Make Wrapping Part of the Gift
5. Make Your Own Reusable Gift Bags
6. Shop the After-Christmas Sales
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Tuesday Morning has paper that is almost plastic and indestructible at a great price, people always comment on how cool the paper is!
I, too, have always saved my scraps as there is almost always something that will fit in it. There are also many YouTubers that will do crafts from scraps - everything is there, right? I reuse bows until they look bad, along with any other ribbons and decorations like plastic holly leaves and pinecones that further enhance a package. Our family also gets a kick out of seeing how many names are on the bottom of shirt boxes and who had it last year. They all flatten and stack into cardboard boxes by size so they are easy to locate at any time. I do the same with boxes that look more like birthday.
There are really beautiful fabric gift bags you can make with grommets and ribbon ties. If you use them for other holidays/special days, they double as part of the gift! So many ideas...
Paper wrapping is so creative. I like your idea. Paper wrapping is very budget but you think how to pack creative wrapping? How to decorate gift wrapping use ribbon and make a creative wrapping. I like your ideas. Thanks!
I love buying the rolls of craft paper at the Dollar Tree and decorating it with stamps and ribbons! Great way to save and add a personal touch to your gift wrapping.
I love this, I especially love using the comics section of the Sunday Paper. I am a couponer, and I find I have a lot of these puppies left over, so I use them mainly for kids birthday gifts all year round. I also love to save on paper by buying more generic colorful wrapping paper, so I can use them for any occasion. I find the "birthday" themed paper more expensive than the generic. Cute is great, but saving on the paper and getting a cuter gift is better.
I also love the idea of using an old map, never thought of that.
And, not surprisingly, Zinstall's tray icon was present on the
Windows XP desktop as well, so I used it to switch back to the Win7 desktop.
Basically, when a computer is new, information is written onto the hard drive in a sequential manner, for the most part.
I'll admit, there are some firewalls that serve a good purpose.
Same as Rhoda - we always recycled our wrapping paper. As a kid, I'd always keep the paper from my presents to give to other close family members for their birthdays/Christmas. It was a fun challenge to see how much paper you could save and to see if you could not tear it/remove the tape well. A curly ribbon hides old tape and little crinkles! Alternatively, you could buy white/brown paper in large rolls and only splurge a little on ribbon - and second-hand ribbon always saves better than second hand wrapping paper.
My Mom used Newspaper Comic strips a lot when we were kids for birthday parties. I always loved it and thought it was an adorable way to wrap kids gifts!
The idea for handmade reusable bags is pretty awesome too! I'm going to have to check out that tutorial!
Each year after opening Christmas gifts I go through and pick out pieces good enough to use again. These I save and use for the stocking stuffer gifts. My family has gotten use to these being wrapped with pieces of tape sometimes still sticking or a bit wrinkled, but I like knowing that I've used the wrap twice rather than just throw after the first go around. And the larger pieces often are in better shape and since the items tend to be smaller, can be used to wrap several gifts.
I love all these ideas! I already reduce paper waste, but I have never heard of currentcatalog.com. I'm excited to check it out after Christmas this year!