Creating Gift Wrap

You’ve bought or made the perfect gift, but that’s only the first step. Wrapping your present in a creative and unexpected way makes a gift even more personal, can be fun to do and, in today’s “disposable” world, is kinder to the environment when you use materials that otherwise would be tossed in the trash.

“Think seasonally,” suggests Karen Keenan, owner of Pamela Loring Gifts in Lee, Mass. (pop. 5,985). “Top your package with an old holiday ornament, spray of fall leaves, holly, or flowers—real or artificial.”

If giving homemade breads, casseroles or other goodies, buy inexpensive plates, dishes and baskets at yard sales and flea markets for food containers. Top jars of your special preserves with material from your scrap box or by cutting pieces from a child’s outgrown garment. Tag sales can yield other wrapping materials such as linens, fabric scraps, doilies and napkins.

“Get creative with paper,” says Keenan, whose shop wraps dozens of presents daily. “Blueprints, maps, wallpaper, brown ‘butcher’ paper, sheet music, brown paper bags, aluminum foil and plastic wrap all work well.”

Reuse newspapers, matching the section to the recipient’s interest. Consider the sports pages for a sport fan, cartoons for a child, stock listings for a business diehard, and the food section for someone who loves to cook. Wrap a graduate’s gift in the classified job ads, and use the real estate section to package a housewarming present.

To top it all off, recycle old ribbons in new ways. Cut them into “confetti” and put them inside clear plastic wrapping or glue them to the outside of your package. You can even wash out empty potato chip bags and cut them into strips, using the shiny side as a ribbon.

Double your gift by wrapping it in a related gift item. Tie a baby shower present in a cotton receiving blanket. Give a book in a reusable canvas bag; gardening tools in an apron; seed packets taped to a potted plant; or a kitchen gadget wrapped in a new dishtowel.

While gift bags are quick and easy, a present wrapped with personal flair is likely to be remembered long after the occasion, as is the giver.

Mari S. Gold is a freelance writer in New York.

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