by Beth Celli

Created on: November 10, 2008   Last Updated: December 10, 2008

Lately, "going green" is the thing to do. You can be more environmentally responsible this holiday season with some green gift-wrap ideas. There are lots of ways to wrap things that are earth friendly. It just takes some imagination and creativity.

A great idea is to use recycled papers. The funnies page is always a hit with children and teens. Using construction paper or paper bags as wrapping paper is also earth friendly. Adorn the paper by stamping it with home made stamps, drawing on it with crayons or markers, or by painting it. Use leaves, twigs or fibers to embellish it and tie it all together using yarn. Each gift will look completely different and you can adapt your artwork to your recipient's personality and to the type of gift you are giving. Coloring book pages are another ideal medium to use as gift-wrap. Simply choose pages that fit the person or the gift and you have ready-made wrapping paper that is much more earth friendly than glossy wrapping paper. This is a great project to let the little ones to help with too!

You can also recycle pictures into gift-wrap. Almost everyone has tons of photos lying around that aren't good enough to be displayed. Recycle old holiday cards too. Cut out the cards into holiday shapes and make them gift tags or use them to decorate plain paper backgrounds. Instead of throwing these things away, reuse them and make something spectacular!

Another fantastic way to gift-wrap green is to use part of the gift itself as wrapping. For a gift of a scarf, hat and gloves, use the scarf to wrap the box holding the hat and gloves. A decorative scarf also works well to cover small boxes. Hair ribbons and hair scrunchies can also be used. Look around and see if you have any in your home that you don't use. Instead of throwing them away, recycle them into spectacular gift-wrap! This works great for baby gifts too. Use a receiving blanket or crib sheet to wrap an item for a baby and you've got gift-wrap that is not only adorable, but useful as well!

If you are a crafter, chances are you have lots of scraps of felt, foam, and fabric around. Use all of those to create wonderful, custom gift-wrap. Make little gift bags or pouches for gift cards from fabric or felt. Make decorative gift tags from left over pieces of craft materials. Use yarn and ribbon to tie your tags to your packages. Get creative! Use up some of your left over scraps, free up some space in your craft closet and you'll help the earth too! Put some thought into it and you will have a beautifully wrapped holiday that will make the earth happy too!

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