4 ideas for eco-friendly gift wrapping

it’s that time of the year when a lot of presents are being wrapped and unwrapped – and we just love the joy it brings! but the downside is, that there’s always so much wrapping paper that goes to waste…

(I mean, I’m one of those people who always try to open the presents without ruining the wrapping paper, so that I can use it as some other DIY later on – do you do that too?)

and because here at takkti, we care about our planet and we care about reducing waste – here’s our 4 DIY ideas for eco-friendly gift wrapping.

in this DIY tutorial we are going to repurpose old paper bags into gift wrapping paper!

tip! – most of the paper bags have some kind of logos or prints on them – just turn them inside out! use the inside of the bag as the visible side of the wrapping!

what you’ll need:

• old paper bags that have been lying around (the color does not matter)
• washi tape ( you can also get some here )
• stickers ( you can get our stickers here )
• a pair of scissors
• a (black or any other color) marker
• some string or ribbon
• some cardboard
• and some gifts to wrap, of course ;)

#1 the geometrical gift 

this gift wrapping look has been inspired by the beautiful boxes from by lassen.

so for this kind of gift wrapping style, you can use smaller paper bags you have, because we’re going to be using washi tapes on the edges.

cut out the paper bag in desired size (depending on the gift you’re wrapping), it’s recommended that you cut the paper bag in long stripes – 2 stripes for 1 present like this:

and then choose a washi tape and start taping up all of the corners! this will accentuate the edges and give it that cool, geometrical look.

after you’ve taped all of the edges, just pop a bow in the middle! and you’re done!

or, as I’ve done it here – make a bow out of washi tape! (you can find a tutorial for that here)

#2 the gift tag

for this look, you’ll need a bigger paper bag.

so cut the bag open and with a marker write something like “merry Christmas”, “happy holidays”, “fa-la-la-la” or anything else your heart desires multiple times on the paper. and then, wrap your gift with it! :)

and for that little extra touch, make a gift tag! I used a piece of cardboard, cut it up to the desired size and made a hole with a hole puncher. to make the gift tag a bit more special, I pasted one of our stickers on one side and wrote the name of the gift receiver on the other!

#3 the washi tape garland 

so for this one, you just need to wrap your present, choose a washi tape, take a piece of string and paste the washi tape around it multiple times, like this:

after you’re done, you can cut out a triangle from the bottom like this:

 and now wrap the washi tape garland around your present - and you're done! :)

#4 the washi tape pattern gift

for this gift wrapping style, you’ll need to wrap you gift, choose a couple of washi tapes and decide on the pattern and order you’ll be pasting the washi, here’s an idea! (we also used some stamps for the "for" and wrote "mom" on it - a kind of a gift tag, but directly on the present!)

and that were our suggestions for this years holiday gift wrapping! did you like it? will you recreate some? if yes, be sure to tag us on social media or send us an email with your creations – we would love to see! :)

stay safe, awesome and creative,

mei-lin