Keep the holiday traditions you love - and drop the rest. I've been seeing this advice everywhere, and I agree with it. If fancy gift wrapping isn't one of your favorite things, gift bags and gift boxes can be a big help.
Let's start at LivingEthos, where you can get gift bags in many sizes and designs - Christmas and much more. As the company explains, gift bags are easy, stylish and eco-friendly. [via EcoSalon and Cool Mom Picks]
Gift Bags Gone Green is another source of gift bags in a wide range of sizes and patterns. And the site mentions another advantage, for those flying for the holidays: It's easy to pack these bags and do a quick gift-wrap at your destination, so you don't have to worry about the packaging tearing (or security folks opening a gift-wrapped package). Update on Nov. 28, 2011: This web site seems to have disappeared.
June 15 sells both jute and cotton bags - including a couple wine bags. [via EcoSalon]
And finally, let's head over to Etsy, where ecovintagevegan provides a range of gift boxes - different sizes and patterns, some with a Christmas theme, others not.
Related posts from prior years, with more great boxes and bags:
Simplifying Christmas: Saving Time on Gift Wrapping
Update: Simplifying Christmas by Saving Time on Gift Wrapping
5 comments:
I keep meaning to just sew up some on my sewing machine. Ha!
I love etsy, don't you?
I love your blog, too!
Kbfenner, I'm so glad you enjoy my blog.
And yes, Etsy is terrific! It's so nice to support individual artisans.
I've been very happy with the things I've bought: greeting cards, a calendar, and a one-of-a-kind soft toy bunny from Herzensart in Germany.
Herzensart now seems to sell primarily at http://www.herzensart.com/start/en/index.html - but I found the artist (and bought my item) through her Etsy store.
gift wrapping always seemed a bit outrageous to me... so much waste of paper! Glad to hear about green giftbags. But I think "green" is about behavior, not product.... if you do not reuse it is not green.
You could also just buy fabric yardage and use it like gift wrap, and use ribbon or bias tape in place of the wrapping paper ribbon. This might be more practical if the gift is for someone who sews though. I think I have enough fabric to make a few dozen bags, but few of them would be Chistmas-y. I've been to Etsy a few times, but I get over-whelmed by the amount of sellers to go through, perhaps I need to learn to refine my searches better?
Saskia, you raise a good point. Some products make it easier to take green actions, by making it easier to reuse. But a fabric gift bag, used once and discarded, would not be green choice!
JustGail, I can relate to feeling overwhelmed when doing a search on Etsy. You might want to try the advanced search, if you haven't already; it gives you more options.
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