Sustainable and Beautiful Gift Wrapping

I love wrapping gifts. I enjoy making them beautiful and being able to present something to the recipient that had as much thought go into the wrapping as what is on the inside.

Gift giving around the world can have many meanings, traditions, and protocol rules associated with it. It is fascinating to learn about which items, numbers, and colors are considered auspicious for gift giving and which ones should be avoided in different cultures.

At the same time that I enjoy this process, I worry about the waste that is generated by traditional wrapping materials. While most gift wrap is made of paper, so many factors make them difficult, if not impossible, to recycle. Ribbons are usually made of a plastic material that cannot be recycled and that creates numerous dangers to wildlife, to our water system, and more. Even fabric ribbons frequently have little life after they are untied and end up headed toward a landfill.

Because of this, I have stepped back from my paper-and-bows habit of wrapping in recent years to using fabric bags that can be reused many times over. This is certainly a quicker way to wrap gifts — pop it in the bag and cinch the top, and voila! It is done! While this fits the bill on sustainability, it feels a little less satisfying in terms of that desire to make the gift feel special as I prepare it.

I have been delighted to learn about furoshiki, a fabric wrapping technique (and the name used for the fabric itself) that has been used in Japan for more than 1000 years. A recent article in the New York Times provides interesting details about the history and how to use furoshiki to wrap gifts or use in your daily life.

Silk is the traditional material for furoshiki, but it does not have to be that expensive to be effective. I have made my own squares of furoshiki with cotton material, and am planning this year to search for fabric items that I can repurpose into furoshiki so that I am giving new life to previously used materials and building up my supply for the coming holidays.

What ideas do you have for how to present gifts well, while keeping an eye toward sustainability?