To wrap Christmas presents in newspaper?

[fairynick]

My family seem to think so! 😂 I read an article about how wasteful Christmas is, and one of my New Years resolutions is going to be about reducing the waste I produce because I do think that I mindlessly produce quite a lot. In the article it said how wrapping paper is non recyclable and really damaging. I am living back at home atm and my mum buys a newspaper everyday so I have decided to wrap my presents in her old newspapers. My mums response was “well they’re not going under MY tree”. The rest of my family seem a bit miffed too. I should add that my family is all adults, I’ve not bought for any children whatsoever so surely grown adults can deal with wrapping paper that isn’t very pretty and shiny?

I am using pages from old magazines and recycled paper from parcels etc. It just seems sensible to not add to the unecessary waste.

I used brown paper last year with ribbon and plain gift tags - they looked so pretty!

If you want to use newspaper, run a warm iron over it first-stops it transferring the ink

I guess I'm not the only one who learnt about ironing newspapers from Downton Abbey...

I got strong boxes and bags last year, even made some out of Xmas fabric. Now they all go in the attic and are reused next year. Looks good and greener 😁

I guess I'm not the only one who learnt about ironing newspapers from Downton Abbey...

They also did it in the 70s series of Upstairs Downstairs

I used brown paper and a Xmas stamp kit last year.

Seems fine to me. That or brown paper

"Reusable ribbon" Do you mean...ribbon? Why not just call it that!?

I would hate this. Not so much the brown paper. Christmas is one of the few times I'm prepared to be extravagant. If you can call using actual Christmas wrapping paper extravagant. I will be using a lot of it in all honesty.

YANBU to want to do something about the wasteful thing that is wrapping paper. But the dirty inky hands and carpets and furniture will be a nightmare for recipients.

Oh I'm not sure about the newspaper... What if the ardent Telegraph reader got a gift wrapped up in The Guardian?
And what do you do with a Daily Mail wrapped gift?

I am all for recycling but tbh i cannot think of anything that would feel.more like a slap in the face with a wet fish than this.
If it really bothers you so much, make the container that you give the gift in part of the gift. A lovely wooden box perhaps.
Or have one beautiful wrapper that you keep reusing within the family. Take it back and use it again next year.
Your idea is the equivalent of a vegan spelling out in detail what has gone into the hot dog you have just ate. Its preachy and boring and unproductive.
There are.lots of imaginative, creative and planet friendly things you can do without wrapping presents in newspaper to let everyone know how much more virtuous you are than them
Bah humbug

@BillHadersNewWife
Sorry that didnt come out right. I meant not the disposable wrapping ribbon, but real haberdashery ribbon that is beautiful and would be kept either by the sender of the recipient and used agin and again to pretty up gifts. I have done it before and wrapped presents in white tissue. They looked beautiful. Just plan to do it in paper that can be recycled

We use Christmas paper but i reuse from the previous year as much as i can.

Won't the ink smear on the carpet?

I do think it’s a bit naff to wrap a gift in the daily mail (or any other newspaper.)

Maybe just don’t wrap them at all?

Love the idea of Christmas fabric!

DH has already wrapped most in last year's leftover paper but definitely doing this next year

Anything that is reused (including fabric ribbon!) is a great idea. My parents started using newspapers decades back and my dad made it fancy by using coloured markers to add pictures (tree, bell etc).

The ultimate recycle came the year we moved and the guy who sold my parents the house had redecorated that hall with red flock on white wallpaper - large stripes on one wall and huge roses on the other. Absolutely hideous so mom stripped it off carefully, rolled it up and any large presents got wrapped in that for the next couple of years.

As for the critics of the term "reusable ribbon" that includes not just the fabric stuff but there's also raffia and even what are effectively wide rubber bands available. Wool also works (my grandmother always matched her wool "ribbons" to the jumper she'd made for our presents) as does cotton string.

I get the dc to style the newspaper with potato prints. Ends up looking ace

They can look really stylish - well, if you're better at wrapping than I am. I received something in a gift bag recycled from Chinese newspaper and it looked lovely - lots of red and black - no idea what it said on the bag, though!

You are going to end up with presents wrapped in Boris Johnson and Donald Trump. 😂

PS There's usually stacks of free Chinese newspapers around Chinatown - and if nobody can understand it, it avoids causing offence by Daily Mail!

It always looks great!

Yuck! They’d not be going under my tree either!

95% of wrapping paper can be recycled. It's only wrapping paper with foil or glitter added to it that can't be recycled. Using brown paper or newspaper is just utterly pointless to me when you can buy wrapping paper very easily without glitter or foil and it will be recycled just like the brown paper and newspaper