Cool giftwrapping ideas = this week's craft challenge!

[Ms Minx]

I was somewhat watching some morning news show this morning and they were talking about gift wrap. Apparently, this holiday, if you stretch out all the ribbon from everyone's presents, it would be 38,000 miles.

Anyway, they were talking about different things to wrap with:
old maps
an architect had old blueprints around...
but the coolest was the ribbon, they used old VHS tape to make the bows. It looked pretty neat!

As for paper, I'm still a fan of finger-painting on newspaper.

Any other really unique ideas?

[SillySawa]

I usually do the old tinfoil thing or whatever wrapping I can find around the house. it's usually slim pickings, but I LOVE getting creative with my wrapping. I usually try to make the person opening the gift work for it, so I'll wrap multiple times, do the big box to little box thing, etc. Ok, I guess that isn't creative, but.. thanks for those ideas! Sometimes I used scrapbooking paper, if the gift is small enough... other than that, I'm not too creative..

[Chaosbean]

i used left over contact paper on the gifts my mom made me wrap for the ginger kids.

[JADED YOUTH]

i usually just paint brown craft paper and use that... i make stamps out of foam. square shapeds bone shaped. and skull and cross bone shaped. i have bug and cockroach shaped foam thingys.. and i just make a checkered pattern and over lap them with the other stamps. I should probablly make christmas themed stamps but.. eh. i like my skulls and bones better.

[opiiate]

Depending on who's getting the gift, you can use QuitSpammingOurSite, the comics section from newspaper, fabric, duct tape?

[bacteriadance]

I wrapped a gift once in graphing paper that I drew graphs all over. It was an inside joke for this kid--I always asked him if I could borrow his graphing calculator, and he'd always tell me he didn't have one (which he did...)

I've seen bandannas used as wrapping paper, but I'm not sure how large of a gift that would work for...
Paper bags from the grocery store would work nicely.
Old cards could probably work too.
Old posters/tickets/stickers/fliers/set lists/song lyrics/etc...
Caution tape.
Poster board.


We save our gift bags, so the family has seen them about 1 million times. I swear some of them are older than me!!!

[DeadGirlCrowdSurfing]

It's pretty late now but my mother used these cute little fabric bags to put the presents in, and the bags can be used themselves (for example to put things in when travelling, taking food to work, etc) because they are really cute (they're just plain, fabric bags so they work for everything, and she got different shapes and sorts according to the people's utility for those). The bags also are supposed (she announced it everyone) to be used as giftwraps next year, or returned to her so she can use them again. I think she and my stepfather also wrapped some in newspaper paper.

Your ideas are so cool! I actually (shock) didn't wrap any of mine.

[lizzymahoney]

I like the fabric bags, but in my experience people don't return them and don't seem to use them either. I have a few left from when I made a couple dozen, and only use them on gifts given and opened in my home.

This year, I mostly reused paper gift bags and reused tissue papers from random things. I flatten them out and store them with all the other gift wrapping stuff and flattened boxes. This year, I just tossed a bunch and separated some for donation.

A few years back I bought this tissue joss paper at the Asian food store. I used that for wrapping smaller gifts and some for stuffing open bags or propping gifts a certain way. Sometimes joss is really small, but these were 12 inch squares I think.

I've also done baskets or bowls. I gave my dad a bowl with a sports video and snacky foods in it, my sister got a basket with assorted bath and pamper stuff. I know I've given one brother a basket or box with random food items he liked, and my mother a planter stuffed with gardening things. That was all years ago. I don't buy new baskets or bowls, but will thrift them or adapt from one I already had. The planter was new, though. I don't bother with wrapping or covering with cellophane. Aside from the waste, the whole discovery thing is enough surprise. Also have wrapped gifts in part of the gift, like a new dog blanket around a new bowl and collar.

[windingo]

I like wrapping gifts in old food boxes. Like the pancake mix box, frozen food boxes, chicken nugget boxes. I just cut off the top flaps and add some tissue paper or newspaper or any type of paper I can stick out the top.

[snowchixrock]

My ex wraps everything in duct tape. One of my crafting magazines showed how you can take paper punch outs, place them between two layers of wax paper, and then iron the wax paper. Its really great for wrapping up your food gifts!

[Brutus]

I think Ive posted this like 4 times hahah.

Fabric is really cool...

use safety pins instead of tape. and use another fabric that matches to make bows and stuff.

This one was for my friend last year. It contained a Dresden Dolls DVD. I was pretty proud of it. And Im sure I showed it on here before...

[bacteriadance]

I don't think I mentioned any of this in my original reply, but I wrapped my boyfriend's dvds after I got back to my dorm. I obviously had nothing Christmasy, so I took some old newspaper, wrapped the dvds and taped them with painter's tape (that's all I had). Then I used some scrap yarn to make "ribbon", and a small little card out of left over paper from a project. It makes me laugh, but it's relevant...

[windingo]

im not feeling well and have spent the last 2 hours on stumbleupon. i found this. its a gift box made out of 2 $1 bills.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/toolbar/#url=http%2525253A//members.cox.net/crandall11/money/box/

[straycats]

My friend Alex runs a store selling Reuse products, they just started selling giftwrap which is their old catalogue - 5 sheets for $1.
http://www.stayvocal.com/store/detail/544