Do you have any interesting ideas for gift wrapping?

I dislike the idea of expensive disposable wrapping paper. I often use new dish towels as wrapping or for large, odd-shaped or cumbersome items, newspapers. It can then be re-re-used as kindling for the wood-burning stove.

I have actually used grocery bags, the paper kind, to wrap a gift in.

I have used aluminum foil, pop paper, and the Sunday comics.

@everybody I’ve got to close down my computer now but will be back tomorrow, keep the great ideas coming

You could go by an architectural or engineering firm and see if they have old extra plans, then you can wrap the gifts in house plans. You can go by the hardware or home improvement store and wrap them in wallpaper, bet there are some interesting prints there. You can go by the art/craft store and buy a roll of canvas, though it may get expensive, but at least you can decorate it yourself. Those are a few ideas.

Maps!!!!!

You could use brown or white paper to wrap it and draw pictures on it that are specific to the person that you are giving the gift to. Or you could use the comics section of the newspaper!

We had a tradition in my family. We wrapped gifts in plain tissue paper and then decorated them by pasting on cut construction paper designs. Add a little sparkle and voila! there was as much oohing and ahhing over the wrapping as over the gift inside.

For a couple of years, my co-workers paid me (nominally) to paint gift wrap for them. I just took a roll of craft paper and made random paint swooshes and streaks and swirls and dots in different colors, then sliced off present sized sheets to give them. My inspiration came from the wrapped presents that I saw in the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas.

I’ve been trying to find some visual examples for you (not having much luck), but you may just have to watch the movie. Basically, the best things were some nifty swirls in black and white, which I really loved. You can sort of see a version of the swirly designs Here. You can do this with paint or even permanent markers.

The other thing that I’ve done in the past, is to make potato prints or even my own finger painting on kraft paper. These are pretty nifty.

I love using brown craft paper and paper lunch bags for wrapping. I often use colored raffia for ribbons. It gives a nice natural look to everything. To make gift bags out of lunch bags, fold over the top inch or so, and use a one-hole punch to punch two holes through all four layers of the folded bag, about one inch apart, centered. String raffia through the holes, and tie in a bow.

Use travel or tourist brochures that are given out. I made boxes out of a really pretty travel
agency booklet. My square soaps fit perfectly in them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBf957XC-4k

Some brochures fold out into large bits of paper, suitable for wrapping larger objects.

How about colorful fabric? The texture alone makes it interesting. For smaller gifts a package of fat quarters from the quilting section of the fabric store is fairly inexpensive, and buying on sale printed cotton fabric by-the-yard (or fractions thereof) can be not costly as well. (You didn’t mention that cost was a factor, so I’m not going to assume that it is…)

All the ideas above are fabulous! I’ve been known to wrap gifts in scarves (you can shop for inexpensive ones at Goodwill or other thrift store); I also collect interesting boxes throughout the year so that the box itself is the wrap. Rather than using ribbon to adorn the package, buy some (cheap) artificial flower bunches and clip the bloooms and foliage to use as decoration (glue or wire to the package). Use empty paper towel tubes to wrap slender items or items that can fold to that shape. If you have a Container Store near you, they offer many kinds of boxes that are quite decorative. Old Christmas stockings make ideal wrappers if the size/shape of the gift will work in that footprint.

My best friend recently gave someone a present with wrapping paper she had found in a joke shop. It was white with the word cunt all over it. Her mum was not amused!!!

Well, I didn’t make it back here yesterday but thank you for all your wonderful ideas, I’ll have to go away and put on my thinking cap, make a final decision and gather all the necessary components together. I do the wrapping vicariously and so need to instruct another person how to carry out the task for me, the method always gets refined somewhat during the wrapping of the first 2 or 3 items but after that it becomes a smoother, speedier operation.