by Joanne Smedley

Created on: November 09, 2008   Last Updated: September 19, 2010

Green gift wrapping needn't be dull.

It's amazing how good a gift can look when wrapped in unusual ways, and in unusual things. Try these creative wrapping ideas to cut down your carbon signature and personalise your gift:

- Recycle biscuit tins and jars. They needn't simply be used for home made cookies, add a little tissue paper to the container and hide small gifts inside such as CDs, stationery and jewellery.

- Use reusable shopping bags as wrappers and give two gifts instead of one.

- Experiment with off-cuts of material or old clothes that are too far gone for even the second hand shops. Jumpers and blankets can be stitched into simple bags and tied off with wool or ribbon to make festive gift sacks.

- Plain fast food bags can be decorated with stamps, stickers or saved motifs, cereal boxes and other food cartons can be covered or painted to make festive presentation boxes.

- Use newsprint, off-cuts of wallpaper or glossy magazine pages to wrap items. Create a collage of the cartoon strips, or match colours in advertisements to create different shades and tones of paper.

- Use potato print painting stamps, or make wax crayon rubbings of festive objects such as holly leaves to make your own wrapping paper.

- Use the gift itself as a wrapper. T-shirts and towels can be gathered around the other gifts and tied off with string, or with the corners of the material itself. Gardening supplies can be presented in a bucket or watering can.

- Collect seasonal vegetation. Use natural decorations instead of the shiny bows. Fallen leaves, pine cones, sprigs of holly or ivy leaves, holly berries, all look wonderful on a present.

- Recycle gift bags, boxes, and old wrapping paper. Use an iron on a low setting to remove any creases.

- Buy eco-friendly wrapping paper and twine. There are some lovely eco-papers available in the shops and raffia comes in all kinds of colours.

- Cut up old Christmas cards and use the motifs as labels, or stick ot other wrapping as decoration.

- Save trimming. It's amazing how often ribbons and bows arrive on other products such as stationery and sweets. Keep all trimming and then reuse it over the year.

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