My Wrapped Gifts

You know how around Christmas your recycle bin overflows with paper products? It starts with the boxes from the gifts that were shipped to you, then it ends up being full of the packing material (be it plastic bubble-wrap or brown paper) and in the end it is full of wrapping paper after the Christmas day tornado of unwrapping. This year I decided to skip a few trips out to the recycle bin. Every time a box came I carefully unfolded the paper used as padding and stashed it in my gift wrapping supplies. I may have even ironed some of it if it was extra wrinkled.

So when it came time to wrap my gifts I opened up my sewing table to wrap on, pulled out all the brown craft paper, and got down to business. If anyone is wondering why my sewing table is so beat up, it's because it's sixty years old. Someday I'll do a post about my amazing Pfaff 130 which is also sixty years old but sews better than any machine I've ever used.

I printed the super cute labels for free from fresh picked whimsey. Then I just cut them out and attached them with tape.

My helpful husband was out getting super secret deals at the mall (he paid cash so I can't even spy on what store he was shopping at on the bank statement) and stopped at the dollar store to get some ribbon.

Whenever I have a gift that won't fit in a box I already have, I raid the pantry for cereal boxes. The cereal isn't any fresher in the box so I just make sure the bag is sealed and put it back on the shelf.

When they're all done and dressed up you may never guess that the paper was leftover from packaging. And the best part about it? My wrapping cost $1.07 for the ribbon. That's it. And I'm not double contributing to the recycle bin with even more paper. It feels good giving gifts to both my loved ones, and to the environment.