It’s the holiday season as I write this. Pouring my creative soul into wrapping presents is one of my favorite parts about giving presents. I love hand-crafting a beautiful package to hold a thoughtfully purchased gift. I’ll admit- I like using adorable holiday themed wrapping paper just as much as the next person. But sometimes I’m feeling like up-cycling, or sometimes I’m in a pinch and don’t have wrapping paper. So here are eight ideas for how to wrap a gift without wrapping paper.

Table of Contents

2 Old maps

3 Fabric gift bags from past years

4 Paper lunch bag or paper grocery bag

5 Recycle the sleeve of a sweater, leg of a sweatpant or pillow case headed to the bin

6 Kitchen towel or cloth napkin

7 Baskets

8 Butcher paper

9 Decorative Ideas

10 Items needed for a basic gift wrapping station:

Newspaper

You may or may not even have access to newspaper. If you do have piles of it laying around, it makes a great recycled gift wrap. Wrap just the way you would with wrapping paper, then spruce it up with a pop of color tied around the outside. If you’re like us and read all your news in a digital format, grab a stack of newspapers the next time you visit your parents or grandparents!

Old maps

Old road maps are such a fun alternative to wrapping paper. Often, maps are colorful in a lovely and subtle way. For anyone who loves travel- especially if the gift is travel-themed- this is the perfect wrapping supply. My grandmother has been giving me road maps for years (just in case we ever needed them in the car!) and I’ve kept them in my craft box for such a purpose as this!

Fabric gift bags from past years

Have you ever received a gift from Amazon that was wrapped in one of their fabric gift bags? I ALWAYS keep those suckers and store them with my other gift bags. They are nice quality and perfect to reuse. You can stick some tissue paper out of the top and cinch it up with a ribbon or twine. I love adding a homemade gift tag or a Christmas tree ornament as a bonus.

Paper lunch bag or paper grocery bag

Plain brown paper is the perfect canvas for your creative spirit. If you need to wrap something smaller than the bag, cut down two or more of the sides and give yourself an easy rectangle to work with. Or, keep the bag as-is, crisply fold over the top, staple, and attach a hanging gift tag with colored ribbon!

Recycle the sleeve of a sweater, leg of a sweatpant or pillow case headed to the bin

Does this seem like more work than it’s worth? This is a fun idea for someone who is really into recycling and also has a bit of extra time on their hands. You can either sew up a simple bag or use this no-sew fabric bag tutorial here. Then tuck your gift inside and tie a ribbon around the top to close it up. Depending on the print or color of the item you used for your material, this could be the cutest looking gift under the tree!

Kitchen towel or cloth napkin

Have you heard of the Japanese method of Furoshiki, or fabric wrapping? The results are so pretty and eco-friendly. Follow this tutorial to try it for yourself. Don’t forget to scour thrift stores for kitchen towels and cloth napkins! You can make some incredible finds.

Baskets

Put everything in a basket and make it look pretty. I love this method because who doesn’t love a basket?! Baskets are another item you can likely source very inexpensively at a thrift store. This is a great method for wrapping a themed gift of multiple smaller items. For example, a coffee themed gift that has a coffee mug, a bag of locally roasted coffee and a wooden coffee scoop. It will look SO CUTE arranged artfully in a basket with a homemade gift tag.

Butcher paper

Lastly, this is the OG wrapping paper alternative. Get yourself a giant roll of brown butcher paper and you will be amazed at all the things you can do with it. Roll it out on the floor and let your kids go crazy coloring. Cut out rectangles and make placemats for the holiday meal. Roll it out over your dining table and make a grazing charcuterie table for your next gathering.

Or use it for wrapping! Decorate with stamps, markers, ribbon, stickers, you name it. I love this as a blank slate for adding my own flair to a gift package. If you’re giving a book as a gift, consider writing a nice quote from the book on the outside of the packaging! Such a fun hint as to what’s inside.