My step mother had her birthday party over the weekend. Not only is she the amazing mother of my beautiful two year old sister, she is an aspiringmidwife who is a living encyclopedia of all things… well… anatomical. To celebrate her birthday and to play on her interests, I found this handmade pillow on Etsy which could not be a more fitting gift for her.

When I think of “gift wrap” I think of overstimulating patterns, shimmery ribbon, and lots and lots of waste. It is definitely a predicament when you still want to adhere to the traditional “surprise” sentiment when giving them. My solution? As easy as going downstairs to my building’s recycling room. It is always full of clean newspapers, tissue paper, and kraft paper which are all fantastic wrapping alternatives. I was lucky to find a big piece of beautiful brown paper that reminds me of traditional ye olde country store wrapping. That plus some biodegradable twine that I picked up at my local hardware store or at Package Free works perfectly!

For Zero Waste gift wrapping you will need:

-upcycled paper (newspaper, tissue paper, kraft paper)
-biodegradable twine
-scissors

Position your gift in the wrapping and determine how much you will need

Trim away the extra

Save it for another gift!

Fold sides like you would a typical gift

Put the twine under the gift in the same direction as the folded sides. Tucking the pre-folded sides pull the twine towards the center, cross them and then pull towards the other sides and flip like you would string on any gift. Knot on the top to secure.

I secured this gift with some dried lavender from the farmers market that I keep in my apartment, it smells fantastic! No tape needed!