That's A Wrap!

Unwrapping

Do you remember back when you were young and you were at your birthday party with all of your best friends surrounding you. You couldn’t wait for this day. Playing fun games, having cake and of course… opening all your awesome presents. Sitting in a circle you open each present, one by one. You are so excited looking at all the fun presents you have been given. All these presents were wrapped in the most beautiful paper and finished off with a gorgeous plastic curling ribbon. Next you look over to the huge pile of crumpled up wrapping paper in the middle of the circle. Your mum comes over with a big garbage bag and she fills the bag up with all the used paper to put in the bin.

Am I cheap?

Now, I don’t know about you, but I am one of those people who rocks up at a birthday or event with my gift stuffed away in the original bag I purchased it in, unwrapped, as is. Everyone must think I am so lazy or cheap. The real reason why I never wrapped presents was because I found it so wasteful. This gorgeous printed paper makes your gift look so beautiful and inviting, but wait…. Once you hand the gift over to your friend, the wrapping paper is only on for about 2 minutes. They look at your gift, thank you and then rip off the beautiful paper and that’s that. The paper is forgotten about. Tossed aside and never thought of again. Yes, I know that there are some people out there who admire the wrapping and take it off ever so carefully, but come on…. How many people do you know that do this? Are you one of these people?

Reusable wrapping

If you go to your local fabric store (every major town has one), and you ask the lovely person at the counter where all the off cuts are kept, I guarantee, you will be directed to an area filled with gorgeous fabrics that just aren’t big enough to sell full price anymore. These off cuts will come in all shapes and sizes and you will find some amazing prints, colours and textures to choose from. Sift through to find your favourite pieces, that are just the right size for your gift. Go to the ribbon section (there may even be an off cut section here) and find a matching ribbon for your chosen fabric. Now that you have found what you need, take them home and you wrap your gift just like you would with paper, but the difference here is that there is no need for plastic sticky tape to hold your fabric wrapping together, this is what the ribbon is for. The fabric should hold in place well. Play around with different wrapping techniques.

Starting an eco-trend

Have a look at the wonderful gift you have created. You have wrapped your gift and made it look even more special. Now when your recipient opens their gift, they will be impressed with the time you took to wrap their present. They may even be that impressed that you have converted another person to use fabric wrapping. This is the effect you want. You want others to follow in your footsteps. You have started a trend amongst your friends and family. Imagine how much wrapping paper, sticky tape and plastic curling ribbon will be saved from going to landfill. I’m not going to bore you with statistics. It’s a lot!

So now you know, I wasn’t lazy or cheap. I wasn’t cutting corners on purpose. I just don’t like the waste that comes with gift giving. Let’s face it, most people don’t care about the wrapping covering the gift. They just want what is inside!

And that’s a wrap!