Although gift bags are all the fashion these days and are great for reusing, some of us still like wrapped gifts upon occasion. :-) But wrapping paper can be expensive. Here are some ideas for making do or using less expensive methods.
Here are some ideas from "Sister in the Mid-West" at Simple Inspirations:
Among a number of good ideas, she shows an example of writing on paper to decorate it for gift warp. The image above is an example of this that I made some years back. I used my colored Sharpie markers to write "I love you!" in different colors on plain white tissue paper. This was for my husband for our anniversary one year. :-) As she points out in her blog post, you can save paper from packages and reuse paper grocery bags for this as well.
You could also make the wrapping part of the gift.
Here are some suggestions:
Wrap a gift for a sewist or crafter in fabric for her to keep.
Wrap bridal shower gifts or a gift for a home maker in kitchen or tea towels.
Wrap a baby shower gift in a light weight fleece blanket.
Wrap a summer birthday gift in a beach towel.
Wrap a house warming gift in a fleece throw or table cloth.
Wrap a set of bed sheets in one of the pillow cases or an extra pillow case.
Wrap various home gifts in a pillow case.
Wrap a kid's birthday gift in a specialty pillow case.
Wrap books in a lap throw (for cozy reading). :-)
These gifts can be held closed with safety pins, ribbon, or low-tack tape that won't ruin the fabrics.
Repurpose jeans or other trousers to make gift bags too.
I have made gift bags using old jeans. I used ones that had the hem still intact, but you could use trimmed ratty ones as well. If the jeans are worn too much around the bottom edge try cutting off the hem and washing them to give a frayed edge to work with. Do this before cutting off the legs for the bags. The hem end will be the top edge of the bag.
To make the bags I just cut the bottoms of the legs off below the knee at whatever length I wanted. I turned the pant legs wrong side out and then sewed them shut along the cut edge. Be sure to use a stout needle size for this. Also, it may be difficult to get the machine to sew through the thickest side seam on the jeans. To avoid breaking a needle I used the wheel on the side and gently worked it by hand so that the needle went through slowly and firmly. You could also sew these up by hand if you don't have a sewing machine. Add decorations as you like. In the one in the photo I added a ribbon on one side to tie the bag shut and some "yo-yos" just to pretty it up a bit. You could also paint them with fabric paint.
-------
While I was looking for another photo I found this one of that white tissue gift wrap that I wrote on years ago. :-)
Also, this basket came to me from my mother and she received it as a gift. The lady who gave it to her spray painted it blue, as I recall, to make it fresh. This is another way you can repurpose or re-gift a basket. A little paint can make something look quite new.
