Let’s talk wrapping paper

[IAmALionTamer]

I’m always overwhelmed by the choice of wrapping paper in the shops. Each year I spend ages deliberating and often just end up getting annoyed and grabbing some random packs from by the tills.

I just wondered what everyone else does? Do you follow a theme? Different paper for different people?

I’m planning a trip to my nearest John Lewis next week as they have some very pretty paper online and I quite fancy a mooch around their Christmas department

Any special tips on wrapping gratefully received too!

I have a friend who works in waste management and she said it's a myth that no wrapping paper is recyclable - most is but the foiled/plasticky/metallic stuff is an issue. She said if you scrunch it and it stays "scrunched" then it's fine. If it's more substantial it probably won't recycle.

And don't stick the ribbon in the recycling.

I get my rolls from wilko, card factory B&M and home bargains.

I also use tissue and cellophane for wrapping bottles and jars.

I pick one "base" colour and as long as the papers I am choosing have that colour in them I will buy. I will also usually buy a few rolls of either plain gold or silver or copper depending on what the rest of my papers look like.

So this year I have Navy as a base colour, so I have some navy with copper trees, white with navy snowflakes, a night time street scene with a navy background, plain metallic navy, navy with white and gold stars etc.

I also use ribbons and embellishments.

I hate when all gifts are wrapped in the exact same paper. I think it looks really bland, I try to get as many papers that "go" as possible I think this year I am up to 9!

Recycling varies with authority, it seems:
www.recyclenow.com/what-to-do-with/wrapping-paper-1

@Alanamackree car boot sales, charity shops, sometimes ebay. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't do all presents in them as I wouldn't be able to find enough but I found a cool old one with bees on which is perfect for someone who has their own hive for example, kitchenalia/food ones are fairly easy to come by and so are location ones, particularly if the person you're giving to either lives in or has a connection to somewhere touristy.

I know a small group of friends who love Christmas, but don't wrap each other's presents: to replace the excitement and anticipation of unwrapping, each recipient is blindfolded and has a good feel of their presents, before they're allowed to see them.

I got some from M&S which is nice. Dark blue with coppery colour trees on it.

Oh and public service announcement - remember that awful glitter reindeer wrapping paper which Tesco did the other year which wouldn’t stay stuck down and all the glitter came off everywhere? They appear to have it in a polar bear design this year. I would advise to avoid it like the plague.

I thought the problem with wrapping paper is that it usually contains a high amount of recycled paper already, so the fibres are very short, and cannot be reused.

Anyone got links to bargain brown paper rolls or guareenteed recyclable gift wrap?

Brown paper this year with ribbons to make them look nice. I actually quite like the brown paper look!

I have used brown paper for years. I buy nice ribbon and make gift tags. It looks lovely.

I buy two rolls that I like and then one roll for the two children in our family (niece and nephew). I choose whimsical themes for the children. Bows and ribbon for my husband because he will appreciate /mock! 😁

Want to go a bit more eco this year so heading off to IKEA later, they have a nice selection of the more rusty brown/red/green paper and twine so I'm going down that route this year.

Used to spend ages wrapping.

This year, got loads of gift bags of all shapes and sizes. Easier/faster to do plus I know most of the people I’m giving gifts to will re-use the bag for other gifts/as storage etc, so it seemed less wasteful without being joyless.

Got multipacks on 3 for 2 plus 20% early bird discount so it worked out pretty economical as well. Got tissue paper in same deal to fold over inside the top of the bag to keep contents secret.

Gift bags are all brown paper with some red Christmassy motifs.

I’ve just read that regular old wrapping paper is recyclable as long as you remove the tape and bows. It’s the foil and glittery stuff that can’t be recycled.

Regular paper is fine if you remove tape etc.., you would have to do this with brown paper too.

I bought my paper yesterday and just went for fun stuff for the kids and pink and white for the adults (matalan).