Feel-Good Gift Wrapping Tips with The Body Shop *

Recently I’ve become a lot more conscious of what I’m doing, what I’m eating and the things that I buy to make sure I’m doing my best for the environment. I eat far less meat, I’ve stopped buying plastics as much as I can, I use a refillable water bottle and travel mug and I like to support brands that are also doing their bit to make the world a better place. It will come as no surprise that I’m a supporter of the likes of The Body Shop, Planet Organic and Adobe (they’re the greenest IT company in the world!)

So when The Body Shop asked me to share my feel-good Christmas gift wrapping tips I didn’t have to think very hard as I’ve already started work on my gift wrapping this year! I’ve been conscious of what I already have at home and what can I reuse if I am going to buy products. Here’s what I came up with…

Recycle

If your family is anything like mine, then they love a fun Christmas bag or using oodles of ribbon around each gift, so why not save them! I store mine away for the year and when Christmas arrives you’ve got plenty to recycle. It’s actually become a bit of a family joke that my mum does the same as she uses rather extravagant gold ribbon tied into perfect bows. Once everyone has opened their gifts from her, they always give the bows back. We’ve never had any complaints, hence why I did the same with my big blue bows last year.

When it comes to the wrapping and if you’re like me being big into selling my old clothes and shoes online, then it’s likely you’re going to have some of that classic brown parcel paper lying around. I tend to buy my parcel paper in bulk as it works out cheaper, so that is what I’m going to be using as my Christmas wrapping this year. It can be recycled which a lot of wrapping papers can’t be so that’s why I’m choosing to use it.

Homemade

It may sound bland and not very festive but after purchasing a few Christmas stamps I can make personalised wrapping paper for a very low price! I also have letter stamps to stamp the receivers names on to the paper to make sure the right person gets the right gift and to write witty Christmas quotes on the paper too. The letter stamps I’ve been using for years for various projects so I’m reusing something I already have which also saves money and means I’m not buying lots of tags that will just end up in the bin.

Combine your homemade paper with your recycled bows and you’re onto a money-saving winner that’s pretty decent for the environment too! How are you making changes this year?