I was just reading some blog posts over on Planet Green, and came across a quick piece on creative reuses for wrapping paper. The one that stood out? Using wrapping paper to cover school textbooks. Imagine how festive your kids’ books will look covered in wrapping paper.
I like this idea because it will help you to save money on buying book covers–either for the spring semester at college or this summer when you’re stocking up on back-to-school supplies–and it will help to keep wrapping paper out of landfills or recycling bins this holiday season, when our trash output tends to rise by about 25 percent.
Of course, if you don’t have any kids in school that need to cover text books, I would re-recommend my idea of shredding wrapping paper, and using it as a packing material for putting away Christmas decorations. Since I’m selling some unwanted stuff on eBay right now, I’ll probably use some of that shredded wrapping paper as packing materials for when I ship those boxes out.
Do you have additional ideas for reusing wrapping paper that have nothing to do with wrapping presents?
READ LEAH ON HOME GOES STRONG
Wrapping paper as bookcovers won’t last long, I fear. There’s a reason more teachers ask students to use old-fashioned paper grocery bags for book covers.
Shredding for packing materials, though — now that’s an idea I can get behind. No more styrofoam peanuts for shipping!
I agree with Daisy – most wrapping paper is pretty thin and wouldn’t last more than one time out! However, I believe in only buying beautiful wrapping paper – which is easily turned into cards and other decorative projects. This year, one of my friends framed squares of paper and hung them on her wall as art and another cut the paper into a rectangle and hung it above her desk as a delineation for random photos and articles she wanted to post up there.
use wrapping paper for making gift bags (cover brown paper bags) or making cards. If you get a head start now with wrapping paper and reusing your xmas cards you can make a ton of handmade cards for christmas 2009!
Mom always wrapped out school books in brown paper bags, which lasted for the whole year. This year, I used wrapping paper scraps (e.g. those little ends that won’t wrap anything!) as a tissue paper substitute.
I like your blogs, they have a lot of good ideas. I, however, have always lived a frugal life, sometimes by choice, sometimes by necessity. When I was alone and living off a small income, I became a professional tight wad, but I had everything I needed. For example, one chicken would make four meals for me alone, and a pound of hamburger would make three. Example, bake the chicken with herbs and spices. First meal, chicken breast. Second meal, chicken stir fry with veggies, third meal, chicken and rice casserole using two cups of chicken from the second breast, fourth meal, chicken salad. The hamburger, first meal, a cheeseburger. Second meal, what I call a hobo, it is a beef patty in aluminum foil with veggies seasoned with whatever you like and a big dab of mushroom soup, then the third meal would be spaghetti. The most I have ever spent one week for groceries after I married a man with a six figure income is eighty dollars and that was when we were having 20 guest to dinner!!! Oh, yea, my husband thinks I am a genius, and he may be right. By the way, I would not let him buy anything for our wedding trip to Jamaica even though he had money. I shopped at my local thrift shops and I looked great, better than most at the resort!! I am still a cheapskate according to all my friends, but weirdly enough they come to me with their financial problems!!