Although the majority of your holiday budget may go on gifts and holiday food, there’s still a large portion that is blown on items to wrap your gifts. Even though you may not think you’re spending a whole lot of money on gift wrap, after you tally up the purchases you could be shocked at how much of the budget was spend on these items. Rather than going out and buying pricey wrapping accessories, you may find these tips can get your items wrapped up without costing you more than a couple scents a present. With these savings you can use the money to enjoy the holidays even more, or you may even be able to put the money back in order to enjoy a better vacation or larger purchase later on in the year!
1. Buy in Bulk
One of the best things about wrapping gifts is you get to be creative about how the gift looks when you present it to the person you care about. Thus, shopping for different wrapping papers may have become an expensive trend of yours. Rather than buying individual rolls of wrapping paper you may want to buy a bulk package. Most stores carry these and they tend to carry from three to six rolls per package. You can often get these packages for a price that you may pay for one or two rolls of paper, which will definitely help out with your budget. Of course, wrapping isn’t all about the paper. When you buy ribbons and bows you may find they total to a lot of money too. So, try to find larger packages that can carry over until next holiday season. You could also look for packages that come with paper, ribbons, bows and tags at one low price.
2. DIY Wrapping Paper
Of course, you don’t have to settle for spending money on wrapping paper at all. There’s actually a lot of ways you can wrap gifts at home without actually spending a penny on the classic holiday gift wrap. For instance, most homes have old magazines or newspapers laying around the home. Simply use these just as you would regular wrapping paper and you’ll be on your way to a great looking present. You may have to glue some of the magazine pages together, but this won’t take long at all and will create a pretty cool effect on your gifts. If you’re providing a gift for children then pull out the comic section of the newspaper or you can even use cheap comics that no one plans to read around the house. You may want to make sure the comic isn’t rare or worth anything before you do this though! Old maps are also a great option for wrapping paper. If you have an atlas or even an outdated road map then you’re ready to go. You could even add a picture of Santa and his reindeers to make it more holiday inspired. Butcher paper or wrapping paper that isn’t holiday inspired works too. Simply flip the paper over and you’ll be working with a blank canvas. You can draw cute designs here to make the paper even more amazing!
3. Swap to Bags
A lot of people have paper bags in storage from grocery shopping. These are perfect to use for the holiday season. Simply place the item in the bag, close it up and use your craft supplies to add the finishing touches. These bags are easy to draw on and with a little glitter and ribbon they’ll be the most unique holiday present under the tree. You can even allow the kids to decorate gifts they give our so the recipient will feel even more special. If you’re not feeling creative then you can usually buy gift bags at any dollar store or department store for a very low price. These bags look great on their own and won’t require you to add anything special if you’re not feeling creative. However, if you are feeling like artistic these are fun to draw on and add a burst of color to your gift. If you have more than one gift for someone then you may want to find a bag big enough to fit all the gifts in one, which will help cut down on wrapping costs substantially.
4. Print Out Tags
Adding tags to cards helps you determine which gift goes to who, but these items, especially the really creative tags, can be pretty expensive when you pick them up from the store. Rather than throwing away money on these items you can simply log onto the internet and print some out. You’d be amazed as to how many websites are dedicated to providing people with adorable gift tags. The best thing is, they’re totally free in most cases. If you can’t find any tags that you absolutely like then you can always print off tags that you create yourself. These can made in any photo or word program so you won’t need to spend any money on this! If you’re not totally satisfied with the print outs then try to add some glitter highlights to them in order to make them more festive.
5. Recycled Goods
You may not have considered shuffling through your recyclable for materials for wrapping, however, these goods are some of the best items to use! For instance, most households probably have some old shoe boxes just collecting dust around the home. These are perfect for items that don’t already come in a box and will make wrapping more difficult items a whole lot easier. You can also use boxes from parcels you’ve recently received in the mail. This cuts down on how much you need to put in your recycling bin and also prevents you from having to purchase boxes to wrap. Another great option is to use oatmeal containers on items that might be a bit odd to wrap. This will help eliminate you from wasting wrapping paper and will ensure no one will be able to guess what you got them! Baby food and mason jars are also a great wrapping material, especially if you’re wrapping multiple items or if you’re trying to disguise an item. Finally, you can use shredded paper to help keep fragile items safe, or to act as a filler in boxes that hold smaller items.
6. Re-Use Supplies
When it comes to saving money on your holiday wrapping one of the best tricks to use is recycling. A lot of the time we’re left with ample paper on the roll that can get thrown out or damaged during the off season. Instead of letting it go to waste, put it away with your holiday supplies and use it the next year. If you wrap it in plastic, then there’s a good chance it won’t get ruined in the off season. If you’re mostly wrapping for an older crowd during the holidays then you may want to have them save wrapping paper from their gifts. Usually, if you open carefully you won’t have to throw the paper away. You can also do this with bags that you use. These are a bit easier to save and can actually last quite a long time. Finally, you can also cut ribbons and bows off of presents and use them again next year. With all of the reusable supplies in storage you shouldn’t have to do a whole lot of shopping when the season rolls around next year.
7. Free Gift Wrapping
When you do your holiday shopping you may run into stores that will offer free wrapping when you spend a certain amount of money in their store. This can be a great way to avoid buying too many wrapping supplies and will even save you some time in the process. Before you go shopping make sure you look into the store’s special deals. This will ensure you know how much you should spend in the store to receive the holiday special. If you can, do your shopping at locations that do this as you won’t have to spend time and money wrapping or worrying about the family seeing their gifts before you get a chance to wrap them. Of course, if the items aren’t reasonably priced then you might want to skip out on this and find another location that offers free gift wrapping.
8. Shop Discount Stores
If you’re looking for cheap wrapping paper then one of the best places to shop is discount stores. These stores tend to have a pretty good selection of products for a dollar or less. This can be great for your budget, especially if you don’t need a lot of supplies for this season. Of course, you should always check out the quality of the supplies as they may not be worth the money. You should always check out the amount of product you’re getting for the money too as sometimes stores will try to only give you a little bit for the price. If this is the case then try to find a better deal as you won’t be getting your money’s worth despite the low price. However, if you’re in a rush or need some last minute supplies then these cheap items may help you avoid lines as well as expensive prices.
9. Shop After the Holidays
One of the best things you can do when it comes to shopping for wrapping paper is look after the holidays. Most of the supplies will go straight to the clearance bin which means you’ll be able to get them for a fraction of the price. The best thing is, they’ll still be in their original packaging so it’ll be much easier for you to store them without them getting damaged. This will prevent you from having to pay for the expensive paper next year and will ensure you’ll be ready to handle all of your holiday wrapping needs as soon as you finish up with your shopping excursions.
10. Skip Accessories
Many of us tend to go a little over board when wrapping paper is concerned. Although shopping is fun, adding those special touches to your gifts make the holiday season what it is. That being said, all of those little accessories we add to the gifts cost money, which isn’t exactly a good thing when you’re on a budget. Rather than spending money for ribbons, bows and the rest of the special touches you can skip them all together and the gift will still look good. Try just using wrapping paper one year and see how you feel about the look. If you’re okay with the package being a little plain then there is no reason to go all out on supplies that you don’t really need. If you’re not okay with it then consider making accessories out of scrapped wrapping paper. This will add a cute touch that doesn’t cost any extra.
Wrapping gifts can be a whole lot of fun, but it doesn’t have to mean you need to spend a lot of money on this aspect of the holidays. Rather than going overboard on wrapping supplies you should put the money back for other holiday items. After all, when you give the gift, the paper is going to come flying off in a matter of seconds! So, don’t sweat it if your present doesn’t look like it belongs in a magazine spread!
