Sustainable Christmas Wrapping Solutions
Everyone here at Acorn loves a beautifully wrapped gift. Whether it’s the uniquely created Penguin Book themed wrapping at The Old Print Works or a beautifully hand-crafted print with a super-stylish bow, we’re here for the wrapping as much as the gift.
It’s been well documented in the press that ‘sustainable wrapping paper’ searches are up 24% year-on-year, so we thought it would be handy to share our office favourite ideas on some more eco-friendly ways to wrap Christmas gifts this year.
1. Use brown paper with string.
A great starting point could be to use brown paper and string. Using brown paper is not only fully recyclable, but it’s a great economic solution too – you can buy metres of paper for a fraction of the cost of traditional wrapping paper. String is also a great alternative to plastic ribbon, it doesn’t have to be brown – we particularly love the red and white candy striped versions.
2. Create your own stamps.
Think about what could make a good print – you could use an old wine cork and dip it in ink or paint for a spotty theme, or even re-use any bubble-wrap packaging your gifts might have been shipped to you in, then paint and press for more of a uniform pattern. You can also buy Christmas tree or holly stamps from craft shops and add shapes at random, add a fabric re-usable bow and voila!
3. Make use of some Christmas foliage
Foliage in gift wrapping always reminds us of the Love Actually scene with Rowan Atkinson! But it needn’t be that complicated or time consuming – once you’ve wrapped your gift, if you add some string or re-usable ribbon, then add a sprig of rosemary, a dried orange slice, or easiest of all – a sprig of your Christmas tree!
4. Use biodegradable tape.
A less obvious source of wrapping waste is single-use plastic cello tape. For eco-friendly gift wrapping, opt for some biodegradable options instead – consider compostable paper tape or washi tape. These tapes are made from wood, pulp or bark and use natural adhesives – you can get them in some jazzy patterns and colours or simply brown.
5. Use fabric instead of paper.
A trend that is catching tik-tok by storm is ditching paper altogether and using fabric scarfs to wrap presents instead. The ancient Japanese technique is called The Furoshiki Method and allows the gifts to look simply beautiful. Watch a video here.
