Christmas Present Wrapping

It's always nice to wrap Christmas gifts attractively but commercial wrapping paper is expensive and often non-recyclable (especially if it's glossy). What alternatives are there?

A very simple idea is to unwrap presents carefully, so as to preserve the paper and give it a cool iron to remove the creases. This requires being organised for the year ahead, however.

If you've ordered presents from one of the online retailers, you'll often find your purchase arrives in a box packed with screwed up brown paper. This can easily be ironed and re-used for wrapping. With some string, recycled ribbon and a nice gift tag (maybe cut from last year's Christmas cards) it will look very attractive.

Even newspaper or magazine paper can be recycled into wrapping paper and can look great - check out this link: 10 Eco-Friendly Christmas Gift Wrapping Ideas - Woodland Trust - Woodland Trust

And nothing packages a present more beautifully than a little prayer said for the person to whom the gift will be given, as it's wrapped.