Monday, December 10, 2012

5 Eco - Friendly Gift Wrap Ideas For Kids

 
Each year I use less wrapping paper, which is great.  However, I'm more proud of the fact that this year I involved the kids in doing it and I'm getting more creative about it to boot.  Here are 5 ideas we used this year - and so can you!

Decorating food boxes



Take any old food box (we used two cereal boxes) and pop it apart.  Then reglue the side seam with the 'wrong'/pre-printed side in.  Once that's dry you can decorate it.  Older Toad drew his own tree to decorate and I drew one for younger Toad.  Then they used their favorite, glitter glue pens, to add in ornamentsDoing this flat is easier.  Once it's decorated, glue the bottom closed too (I used rubber bands to apply some pressure while it was drying).

 
















Creating gift tags from paperboard packaging




You can use any paperboard packaging you've got laying around for this.  Draw small shapes on the blank side of the packaging.  In this example I traced small Christmas cookie cutters.  Cut your shapes out and hole punch a hole.  Then apply glue to the already printed side.  Finish with a generous sprinkling of glitter. 




Painting take-out food clams


The cafe next to my husband's work uses paper to-go packaging.  We end up with a lot of their packaging because his colleagues save their unwanted leftovers to go home to our chickens.  The paper containers are great to decorate because they accept paint readily compared to the styrafoam or plastic.  The Toads painted one side, let it dry, and then painted the other.  The next day they decorated them.


Dressing up plain paper bags




All that's required for this is a hole punch and some ribbon.  Take any paper bag you've received, fold over the top, punch two holes, tie a bow.  On the smaller bags, or those you want to lay flat, it's helpful to staple the bottom to the sides so it's not floppy.  This is great shoelace tying practice too!


Beautifying packing paper

Some companies are doing much better about not using plastic peanuts in their shipping.  When you get that plain brown paper, before you just recycle it, try upcycling it into gift wrap.
 
 You can draw on it.

You can stamp on it.

Or you can apply any art materials you've got around to dress it up and personalize it. 

There's lots more ideas for upcycling packing materials into gift wrap out there.  If you've done any fun ones with your kids, please comment with a link so we can see your fun ideas too.

11 comments:

Moe said...

I am working on letting my son paint on an entire roll of brown packing paper. I am going to wrap grandparents and aunts and uncles gifts in that! Oh and I am your newest follower!

www.adventureswithcaptaindestructo.com

toady mama said...

Thanks Melissa. Sounds like you'll have great gift wrap!

Becca @ The Earthlings Handbook said...

Hey, this is great! I never thought of using inside-out cereal boxes! I put a link to this article in my article on reducing holiday waste.

maggy, red ted art said...

Great set of ideas! We love making our own gift wrap too!

Thank you for sharing on Kids Get Crafty!

Maggy

toady mama said...

Thanks ladies. Enjoy your holidays!

Danielle @ Poor and Gluten Free said...

Hi mama, your post was featured today on the Poor and Gluten Free facebook page :) Thanks so much for sharing it!

toady mama said...

Thanks for spreading it around!

Christy said...

Great ideas to involve the kids in helping with presents. Thanks for linking up to tip toe thru tuesday.

Becki said...

I love these ideas! I would love for you to share them with us on Eco Kids: organicaspirations.blogspot.com/2012/12/eco-friendly-christmas-crafts-and-eco.html

Carrie said...

Great ideas!! Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!

Unknown said...

These are all great ideas!thanks for sharing at repurposed ideas weekly.

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