Do you enjoy wrapping your gifts as much as buying them? Me too! Get inspired to wrap your gifts using fresh greens and natural elements.
If you are looking for creative ideas to wrap your gifts this year – you’ve come to the right place.
In this post I am sharing wrapping ideas that are rustic, cozy, whimsical, and using natural elements especially fresh greens.
Throughout the post I’ve bolded where I’ve used natural elements in my gift wrap.
Table of Contents
TRADITIONS
Does your family have any wrapping traditions?
In our house, Santa didn’t wrap. We knew right away what Santa had left because it was in plain sight.
The four of us would peek in the living room and immediately see all our presents. Of course that was followed by running into our parents bedroom announcing with glee what Santa had left.
As an adult I realized why they seemed to be more tired than excited at first!
For us there was no digging through piles of wrapped packages – it was instant happiness as soon as we saw the room.
Santa was so organized that he had areas designated for each child and amazingly he remembered to put things in the same spot year after year!
Everything else was wrapped in colorful paper and had a sticky bow on top. In our family we wrapped using what we called “Baltimore Boxes.” A Baltimore Box was a box where you just wrapped the top.
You could take off the lid, unfold the tissue to see what you received, then put the lid back on and everything under the tree stayed beautiful throughout the season.
You used less wrapping paper but it did take a little more time. We would save them and use them year after year. We would add a new tag and sometimes a new bow and we were done!
A much more eco friendly approach for sure.
INSPIRATION
I’m sharing wrapping ideas that are a little different than I had as a child.
In addition to this post on wrapping, you can find one on Bags, Tags and Baked Goods that showcases lots of ideas. For a homemade reusable tag you can check out my post on beautiful and useful soy wax sachets.
For my wrapping this year I used simple brown Kraft paper. First, it’s easy to recycle, and it’s a perfect blank canvas to decorate.
Below I’ve categorized my wrapping so you could hop to the style you prefer.
RUSTIC & NATURAL
For this package I printed off a picture of a vintage red truck and cut it out. I used a glue stick to adhere it to the package and then added a sprig of fresh greens.
It looks like the perfect Christmas tree is coming home in the truck. Next I added red and white bakery string to finish it off.
I made this twine tree on a package as a take off on my Twine Tree Tutorial. I drew the shape of a tree then outlined it in hot glue and laid the twine on top.
Next I filled in the rest with more twine and added a stick as the tree stump. Topped with a book page star and moss, it’s simple.
NATURAL
For this gift I used orange slices that I had dried in the oven at 180 degrees for 2 hours. Then I used a hole punch so I could hang them on twine along with stars I cut from old book pages.
It’s a perfect topping for the plain Kraft paper. Just a little garland keeps it simple and elegant.
How easy and simple is this style? Fresh greens were added and tied up with twine and added on a clay star to finish it off. Use glue to adhere to the package.
WHIMSICAL
I styled this package as a playful take off on the ever popular gnome. You may have seen neighbors decorating large shrubs to look like gnomes, I thought I’d replicate it on a box! Next I used a scrap of material from my DIY Fabric Pumpkins and glued it to the box, then added a holly berry on the end of the hat.
I had a leftover wooden ball with one flat side and glued that on to the box at the bottom of the hat. For his beard I added more fresh greens.
Lastly, it was finished off with two pieces of bakers string along the bottom of his hat. This could be used for anyone, young or old.
COZY
Who can argue with cozy, even if it’s a package? This look can be easily duplicated with a scarf from the Dollar Tree. My first idea was to use a scrap of material I used as a tablecloth, and cut a strip and fringe at the ends so it resembled a scarf. If this isn’t the epitome of Cozy and Creative Christmas Wrap – I don’t know what is!
Next step was to tie it around the package and you are done!
REUSABLE
A perfect idea to wrap up a supply of baking items or any gift – adding a cookie cutter to your package is a simple and functional decoration. You could match a cookie cutter to the ribbon or string and tie it on top.
TRADITIONAL
One of my last examples includes a fresh and crisp buffalo check plaid ribbon. Start with Kraft paper and then tuck in a sprig or two of holly for additional color.
VINTAGE
Reusing pages of books reminds me of wrapping school books in the funny papers or brown kraft paper. My mom had dozens and dozens of old books, I use many of them as decor throughout my house.
There are so many that I can’t possible use them throughout the house but I also don’t want to get rid of them. Enter using pages of books to wrap. I was taking pages from one vintage book and it wasn’t a Christmas book but I saw pages that had the word “mistletoe” on them. How perfect!
I tore around the edges and glued pieces onto the kraft paper instead of wrapping them in the pages. These turned out to be a really neat vintage look.
SUPPLIES
Everything I used is listed below: My natural elements are bolded.
Kraft Paper
Glue Gun
Fresh Greens
Dried Orange Slices
Twigs
Holly Leaves
Holly Berry
Moss
Ribbon
Twine
Tape
Scissors
Chalkboard Paint
Fleece
Clay (Sculpey)
Dried Orange Slices
Vintage Book Pages
Thanks so much for stopping by to see my ideas on how to use fresh greens on your packages!
Merriest of Christmases to you! I am so excited you are visiting Saved From Salvage. Make sure to subscribe so inspiration comes straight to your inbox.
XO, Regina
This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience. I receive a small commission if you purchase from these links, this is at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my small business.
I love your creativity with each and every package! So many great ideas, Regina!
Thanks Missy! So fun to see everyone’s creativity! Hugs
Regina, this is outstanding! I love that Santa haha it’s perfect! Lots of inspiration! Susan
I love your wrapping style Regina❤️ brown paper is one of my staples for wrapping all year round. The scarf idea is adorable and the chalkboard tree is perfect, no tag required 👏👏
Thanks Anita! It was fun to be part of this hop with you. Merry Christmas!
Regina, this is such a beautiful post so full of inspiration. Thank you for sharing your gifts and talents with us.
Wendy – I so appreciate the chance to be included! So fun – thanks for coordinating and always being an inspiration.
I love these cute, and creative ways to wrap all your Christmas presents for under the tree.
Thanks Cath!
Regina, I think this may be my favorite post you’ve shared. I am a brown paper packaged girl, too. And, Santa delivered our presents the same way…unwrapped and grouped for the five of us so we knew which pile was ours. I love the Baltimore box. What a great idea! Merry Christmas, sweet friend!
Regina, I think this may be my favorite post you have shared. I’m a brown paper packages girl, too. And, Santa didn’t wrap our gifts either for the five of us—but, left them in piles that we recognized. Love the Baltimore box idea! Great post! Loved reading it. Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Awe – thanks so much Leslie. Kindred spirits with unwrapped gifts from Santa! Merry Christmas to you and your family!
love these ideas.
Thanks Terri! Congrats on the craft show 🙂
Your packages are all outstanding. I don’t think I could pick a favorite, but that gnome is just darling.
Kim – thanks for reading! I like him too – I think the little ones will for sure. Merry Almost Christmas 🙂
Wonderful ideas. Hugs to you, my friend.
Thanks so much Renae – miss seeing you on tribe calls. Merry Christmas Hugs back!
So many amazing ideas! Just when I thought I loved the natural gift wrapping the best, you showed the cutest whimsy wrapping. I seriously loved your post. I found a few ideas I’m going to try next year.
Kim – Awe – thanks so much for your kind words. It was really fun to work on with everyone! I think the kids will love the “whimsy”
I so much enjoyed all of the wrapping ideas that you shared.
Paula – Thanks so much! Merry Almost Christmas!
Regina these are all amazing. I love every idea.
Pinned!
Cindy – thanks so much! Glad you like them…now to only finish decorating my tree!
Regina, I absolutely loved every idea on this post! The gnome was so cute, it made me laugh! I love gnomes! So many creative and easy ways to wrapped gifts. Really like the vintage and natural feel of each of them.
Thanks Melba! This was such a fun project to work on. I love the gnome too 🙂
Beautiful post with great ideas. Love the Santa the Santa face and it brought smile to me. Merry Christmas to you and to yours:)
And your comment brought a smile to me. Thanks so much for visiting! Merry Christmas
So many beautiful ideas. I especially love the gnome and the Christmas tree ones. Thank you for sharing with us at Handmade Monday 🙂
Julie – Thanks so much! Have a wonderful weekend 🙂
Regina, I’m loving the updates you have made to your blog. It looks wonderful! Thanks for sharing your post with us at our Tuesday Turn About Link Party and be sure to look for your post to be featured this week. Hugs!
Michelle – thanks so much – finally joined the WordPress wagon! So excited for the feature! Merry Christmas to you!
The gnome is my favorite! This is such a creative post and I love all that you shared it on the link party. I had to pin it for inspiration for next year. Happy New Year. #HomeMattersParty
Regina! This is a fabulous idea for a post! You shared so many creative and unique ideas. Also I love the idea of Baltimore boxes. (I worked in Baltimore for 4 years)
Regina I love all of these ideas, especially the tree in the back of the truck and the gnome but most of all I loved hearing about your family traditions. Your Santa was so smart not to waste time or money on wrapping and to know every year where each child’s spot was spectacular! This was such a special post.
Regina these are all adorable but that gnome is my favorite! I am gnome obsessed!!! You are so creative!
Regina, each one is prettier than the next. I love the truck, the knome! Wow. so creative!
Regina,
I loved all your creative ideas. I have been pinning away over here. So fun.
So many amazing ideas! I love the gnome and twine tree. So creative!
I absolutely love and adore how you’ve wrapped your Christmas presents, Regina! I love them all, but I think the gnome one is my favorite!
Regina… you have so many great ideas for wrapping Christmas gifts! Love how each one involves natural elements. SO pretty! Pinned, and I’m happy to be featuring you at Tuesday Turn About this week!
Julie – thanks so much! Have a merry christmas!