Question of The Day. Saturday the 26th of December

[Norachan]

Hello, Happy Boxing Day.

What do you do with all the wrapping paper after Christmas? Do you try and save some of it or just throw it all away? Have you got any good uses for re-used wrapping paper?

I've used some of mine to cover boxes for the cats. All cats love boxes, right? I tape the box back together, cover with wrapping paper and then cut a hole in one side. They get a box to play in and I get something prettier than brown card board to look at.

What do you do with your old wrapping paper?

 

[jcat]

It gets thrown away. Wrapping Mogli's cardboard boxes with it probably wouldn't be a good idea because of the way he chews them - the dye wouldn't be good for him. It's a great idea if your cats don't chew big cardboard boxes into teeny weeny bits. :lol3:

 

[Winchester]

It gets thrown away here, too. Way, way B.C. (Before Cats), I used to save the bows and ribbons. Now, we don't use bows and ribbons anymore. 

 

[betsygee]

It depends--if the paper is a decent size, I fold it up and save it for the next year.  If it's small, it gets tossed.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

i don't have any wrapping paper here. all the gifts i receive are shipped to me and are not wrapped. if i did end up with wrapping paper though, i'd use it in the wood stove -- might as well get more use out of it! 

 

[donutte]

Paper gets toss. If gift bags are used, I will usually keep them and re-use them at a later date. Sometimes for Christmas, some times for other things (yeah, I'm one of THOSE folks that gives people with June birthdays prezzies in Christmas bags). If the bag isn't holding up well though (that happened this year with a gift I got) it just gets tossed.

 

[cassiopea]

They go in the fireplace   

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Bags get reused.  If they aren't in good enough condition for another gift; they are good for bringing things places. I've even used one as a lunch pail. 

  

Paper gets recycled.  It was a mess in here yesterday. My kids don't open things neat enough for it to be useful for anything other than kindling or stuffing!

 

 

 

[Kat0121]

It gets thrown out not that there is much of it though. Cardboard and plastic get recycled

 

[LTS3]

 
What do you do with all the wrapping paper after Christmas? Do you try and save some of it or just throw it all away? Have you got any good uses for re-used wrapping paper?

Used wrapping paper can be put through the paper shredder and turned into strips for re-use as packaging material

Or confetti if you have one of those cross-cut shredders. So the strips have Christmas / holiday designs on it. I think it gives a package an extra festive feel and an unexpected surprise when the recipient opens the box or package

Might be late for this but if you have the emtpy tube from a roll of wrapping paper, you can donate it to the shelter. Small animals love to play in tubes and chew on them. If you can cut the tube down into smaller lenghts it would save the shelter staff from having to do it. You can donate your empty toilet paper and paper towel tubes, too, but make sure they are unscented.

 

[laura h]

garbage. Comet eats paper. Not a good idea

 

[fyllis]

I save it! Probably because my Mom always saved it when I was a kid. She always found things to do with it - (and, God Bless her, if she was going to use it to re-wrap a gift , she would iron it so it wasn't wrinkled!  Back in the 50's and 60's with 5 kids, you had to be frugal! These are some things I remember my Mom doing. 

1. Larger pieces were ironed and used throughout the year to wrap gifts. Yes, even birthday gifts! The other side was white, so she would just turn it over so the design was on the inside and use a colored ribbon to decorate it. Wewere never surprised to see Christams gifts wrapped in Birthday wrapping paper either. When money was tight or she ran out of Christmas wrap, she used what was available ... her excuse was because it was Jesus' Birthday!

2. She used it to pack away fragile Christmas ornaments and decorations.

3. Mom always lined her "delicates" drawer with wrapping paper - it prevented her stockings from getting snagged on the wooden drawer bottom.

4. She would cut the paper in small squares (6-8 inches) and staple them together and make scratch pads out of them. She write her 'to-do' list and grocery list on white side.

5. When we did school crafts, she would pull out her box of old wrapping paper and cover the kitchen table with it so we didn't get glue and stuff on the table top.

6. When the grandkids spent the night at Grammy's house and got bored, she would whip out the old wrapping paper and they could draw and color on it.

7. She would also get out crayons and draw roads and houses and stores and street signs and make little 'neighborhoods' for the grandkids to drive their Hot Wheel cars and trucks on!

8. The 'less desirable' paper was used in lieu of tissue paper in gift boxes the following year. 

9. I remember using it to make doll clothes for my Paper Dolls! One year she gave me a piece of royal blue foil paper and I made the most beautiful gown and glued cotton balls around the hem and sleeve cuffs! Oooooooo! It was SO fancy!

10. We gave my doll house (it was made of cardboard) a make-over and added new wall paper to all the rooms.

11. One year, sh used all the left-over wrapping paper to wrap all the picture frames in my hallway. It added a little holiday spirit in what was an otherwise undecorated area of the house.

12. She also put the wrapping paper in the frame itself (instead of a picture) and hung them up. They made cute and inexpensive decorations and when the holidays were over, she simply put the photo back in front of the wrapping paper.

13. She cut circles out of a corrugated cardboard box, glued holiday paper over it and covered it with decoupage glue to make inexpensive holiday coasters.

14. She would use the smaller scraps and cut them in 2x4 inch pieces, then fold them in half and make gift tags out of them. She would either punch a hole in the corner and tie it on with ribbon or just tape it to the gift.

I am sure there were several other things she did with the used wrapping paper, but I can't think of them right now. 

It's a shame to just throw it away! Use your imagination and be a little creative!

 

[mani]

I'm a saver if it's still OK... definitely like to recycle.  I have some particularly lovely Japanese paper that I have stashed away for something special

I think fyllis's post shows us just how much we've changed as a society.  Wouldn't it be great if we were as creative about all the stuff we usually throw away?

 

[Draco]

 
I save it! Probably because my Mom always saved it when I was a kid. She always found things to do with it - (and, God Bless her, if she was going to use it to re-wrap a gift , she would iron it so it wasn't wrinkled!  Back in the 50's and 60's with 5 kids, you had to be frugal! These are some things I remember my Mom doing. 

1. Larger pieces were ironed and used throughout the year to wrap gifts. Yes, even birthday gifts! The other side was white, so she would just turn it over so the design was on the inside and use a colored ribbon to decorate it. Wewere never surprised to see Christams gifts wrapped in Birthday wrapping paper either. When money was tight or she ran out of Christmas wrap, she used what was available ... her excuse was because it was Jesus' Birthday!

2. She used it to pack away fragile Christmas ornaments and decorations.

3. Mom always lined her "delicates" drawer with wrapping paper - it prevented her stockings from getting snagged on the wooden drawer bottom.

4. She would cut the paper in small squares (6-8 inches) and staple them together and make scratch pads out of them. She write her 'to-do' list and grocery list on white side.

5. When we did school crafts, she would pull out her box of old wrapping paper and cover the kitchen table with it so we didn't get glue and stuff on the table top.

6. When the grandkids spent the night at Grammy's house and got bored, she would whip out the old wrapping paper and they could draw and color on it.

7. She would also get out crayons and draw roads and houses and stores and street signs and make little 'neighborhoods' for the grandkids to drive their Hot Wheel cars and trucks on!

8. The 'less desirable' paper was used in lieu of tissue paper in gift boxes the following year. 

9. I remember using it to make doll clothes for my Paper Dolls! One year she gave me a piece of royal blue foil paper and I made the most beautiful gown and glued cotton balls around the hem and sleeve cuffs! Oooooooo! It was SO fancy!

10. We gave my doll house (it was made of cardboard) a make-over and added new wall paper to all the rooms.

11. One year, sh used all the left-over wrapping paper to wrap all the picture frames in my hallway. It added a little holiday spirit in what was an otherwise undecorated area of the house.

12. She also put the wrapping paper in the frame itself (instead of a picture) and hung them up. They made cute and inexpensive decorations and when the holidays were over, she simply put the photo back in front of the wrapping paper.

13. She cut circles out of a corrugated cardboard box, glued holiday paper over it and covered it with decoupage glue to make inexpensive holiday coasters.

14. She would use the smaller scraps and cut them in 2x4 inch pieces, then fold them in half and make gift tags out of them. She would either punch a hole in the corner and tie it on with ribbon or just tape it to the gift.

I am sure there were several other things she did with the used wrapping paper, but I can't think of them right now. 

It's a shame to just throw it away! Use your imagination and be a little creative!

I love these ideas!!

paper gets thrown away here too

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Tossed.  It is necessary.  I have the soul of a hoarder, and have to be utterly ruthless with myself about things like that.  The week before Christmas, I tore through my storage closet, and tossed 3 kitchen-sized trash bags full of odd sized and shaped glass and plastic bottles and jars that I was saving for something, someday.  And that wasn't all of them.  I allowed myself to keep just a very few, of types that I've actually found good uses for in the recent past.  Tomorrow I'm going through all my catalogues and tossing like mad.  i have some from Summer 2009.  This might make some sense if I didn't have every one of those places bookmarked on my computer.  Like I said, soul of a hoarder.  Toss, toss, toss.  To save it...that way leads to madness.

 

[jenny82]

We recycle wrapping paper and re-use gift bags.  I like the turning shredded paper into confetti / packaging idea

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

Sometimes I shred the paper and use it in gift bags. I save all bags, bows and ribbons. A lady used to give us elaborately wrapped Christmas presents that I really hated to open because of they beauty in the wrapping. They were decorated with Christmas corsages, bells, beads, lace, etc. I saved it all and use it for ornaments on the tree. I fold tissue paper and when Christmas is over, I iron it and fold it into neat squares for reuse. I hardly ever have to buy it. I save gift boxes too. I use a combination of boxes and bags. This year I tried to use boxes to wrap my gifts. I used all the odd Christmas paper that had a little bit left on the roll. I never have to buy any of it because I save all I can and use it over.