Frugal Friday: Gift Wrapping on a Budget

One thing that we try to do each year is make gift personalized. It can get pretty expensive though. Here are a few ways we do it on a low gift wrapping budget. Why put a lot of money into it? It only ends up in the trash anyways.

About 4 weeks (this year it was the last 3 months) before Christmas, I get my groceries bagged in brown paper bags versus the plastic bags. We cut open the brown paper bags and let the kids decorate them with markers, crayons, cut outs, stickers, and stencils (or Christmas cookie cutters). We also use white butcher paper, if we have it on-hand. Not only does this keep the kids busy for a while, it saves a little money on gift wrap. Now, not all the gift can be wrapped with the brown paper bag but we try to get as many as possible wrapped in them or the butcher paper, if we have it.

Another way we cut down on gift wrapping is creating our own gift tags. We save Christmas cards from the year before, cut off the picture and write the "To" and "From" on the back. We also use cookie cutters to cut shapes out of construction paper. Depending on time, we will decorate the shape. For example, if we use a snowman, we will make the snowman out of white paper, cut out a black hat and buttons to glue on it, cut out a carrot nose and then draw the face on it.

The last way we save on gift wrapping is making our own bows. I hit the stores after Christmas looking for cheap ribbon (it's usually one of the items that are left at 75% or 90% off). I grab up a bunch of different ones and put them away with my Christmas decorations. Then when it's time to gift wrap the following year. I pull them out and make bows for the gifts (most recipients keep them and re-use them or even offer to give them back). Here's another illustrated way to make bows (they are really simple). Once you start making them, you will have your own way of creating to them but these ideas will get your started.

These ideas are good for Christmas presents but can be used for other holidays/celebrations where you might need to wrap a gift.

Visit Biblical Womanhood for other frugal ideas.