I love to wrap gifts creatively for the holidays and am always on the hunt for cute ideas for embellishing gifts without spending a lot of money.
You may not have thought of Goodwill as a great place to find items for adorning those holiday gifts, but it is the perfect place to check for creative gift wrapping solutions.
Here are a few of my favorite creative ways to wrap gifts for the holidays!
Wrap it In Wallpaper- I love to hunt for wallpaper when I do my Goodwill shopping because it is such a beautiful (and durable) way to wrap your gifts. Hunt for patterns that can double for your holiday wrapping and for all of those other special occasions. I can usually find huge rolls of wallpaper for a dollar or less and it lasts me forever. You can make each gift unique by switching the colors and styles of your bows and use this paper for years to come.
Use a Wallpaper Border– Wallpaper borders are also a wonderful way to wrap your gifts, particularly for the small jewelry boxes or for recovering small gift tins. The best part about using wallpaper borders for small packages is how easy it is to work with when wrapping small boxes and it costs just quarters at Goodwill!
Upcycle a Vintage Tin– Old vintage tins can make the perfect packaging for your favorite holiday treats. Recover the tops with scrapbook paper or vintage wall paper. I also love to use cans of spray paint in bold colors for making tins monochromatic.
Wrap it in Maps– Maps can be a really unique way to wrap those gifts. When visiting in different cities and areas, be sure to pick up some maps from the visitor’s bureau and save them for wrapping your presents. To make gifts more personal, save maps from your special trips or places that you would like to remember.
Likewise, you can save maps from the recipient’s local area and wrap them in that. Maps can also be printed for free from places like Google Maps or MapQuest.
Wrap them in Fabric-Look at Goodwill for great fabrics to use to wrap your gifts in over by the table linens and bed linens at the store. You can easily make a no-sew bag using hot glue and the fabric. Leave the top of the bag open and tie it up with a little bit of ribbon. This would be a great way to wrap items that tend to be more difficult to wrap because of their odd shapes.
Make the Wrapping a Gift in Itself- Don’t forget that your gift itself can also be used to wrap your present. For example, a pretty scarf can be used to wrap a new pair of gloves or an apron can be used to wrap a new dishtowel set. Look at your gifts as wrapping elements and see how you can use them.
Add a Small Embellishment– Add a special element to finish off your gift that you have found when doing your Goodwill shopping. For Christmas, I love to find mini-ornaments to use to decorate my gifts. For other occasions, you can tie something little that goes along with the theme of the party. Be creative and it can add another dimension to your gift.
Wrap it in Newspaper- Newspaper is a great way to wrap gifts and can also be tailored to the recipient. For example, I love to wrap children’s gifts in the comics section of the paper. This is a fun and frugal way to wrap their gifts and, let’s face it; kids do not care about the expensive gift wrap anyway. Likewise, you can use different sections of the paper to go along with that person’s particular interests. For my favorite finance guy, I love to wrap the gifts in the Business section and add a Monopoly Money gift tag. Similarly, a foodie might enjoy a gift wrapped in the Food section and a whisk tied to her gift. Go nuts with the themes- it makes your gifts completely unique and more interesting to open.If you have children, have them get in on the decorating fun. Let them decorate computer paper or large sheets of construction paper to wrap your gifts in.
Repurpose Old Greeting Cards- Save the greeting cards that you receive and make new gift tags out of them. I save cards that I receive that have interesting pictures on them for these kinds of occasions. You can hole punch them and loop them through with ribbon or mount them to card stock and add an extra layer with stamps around it.
What are some of your favorite ways to creatively wrap gifts? Have you found anything at Goodwill that you wrap your gifts with? I would love to hear your suggestions!
Photo credits- Please click on the photos to access the photographer’s Flickr pages.