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Did you know that there is a 25% increase in the amount of garbage we dispose of around the holidays? And most of it is packaging and wrapping paper. According to an article in The Atlantic (12/22/12) we spend $2.6 billion annually on wrapping paper. Wasteful!
Cloth wrapping has been used in traditional cultures for over 1,200 years and is still used today by many wise parents. Furoshiki is the ancient art of cloth wrapping from Japan which is elegant, practical and eco-friendly. In Korea it's called Bojagi and is often silk or hemp patchwork cloth.
Another advantage is that different shaped gifts are easier to wrap with cloth. Here are some ideas:
We love how simple and beautiful cloth wrap is. And your wrapping becomes another gift or can be used year after year.
Playsilks are especially beautiful as wrapping because of how luminescent and shiny the colors are. Plus, after the gifts are open the children can play with them!
Our starter set of silk wrappings is available here.
Leave a comment about your ideas for reusable gift wrapping below and enter to win a Holiday Gift Wrap Set!
Two winners will be chosen 11/14/18.
My grandparents used to reuse the comics papers to wrap our presents and we loved it! We were always careful to not tear them so we could read them later.
I love the reusable aspect of these gift-wrapping silks. It gets my imagination going to think of all of the future gifts they will wrap. I am certain that these will be a hit, and that they will ignite the imaginations of the recipientes of my gifts wrapped in silk. Plus, I will be extra proud to present gifts wrapped in real silk!
We keep presents to a minimum. We like to keep things simple so that the kids use their imagination. I can already see my kids eyes lighting up when they see their carefully selected gifts wrapped in such beauty. I imagine my daughter using the silk ‘wrapping’ to tie bows on the tree, the bed posts, the chair rails etc…. I would love the opportunity to see what else her and my son come up with on Christmas morning! They have January and February birthdays and I’d be willing to bet they’ll reuse the silk wraps to wrap the gifts they will have for each other.
The reuse and no waste goes right along with the qualities and values I’m teaching my children every day.
We use recycled brown paper bags, news papers, or packaging from online orders. For larger gifts we have used table cloths or tapestries. This year for my daughters 3rd birthday we had enough playsilks to wrap her gifts in them! It was beautiful & she loves seeing her silks put to use in a new & unique way. Now she of course wants to wrap all of her friends gifts in them as well!
We like to reuse paper bags and the girls color pictures on the plain ones for people. We also like to wrap wedding and housewarming gifts in towels. We’d love these!
I make reusable fabric gift bags for small items but these silks are a great idea for big presents. How pretty!
We keep gifts very minimal amongst our family of 6. We always do new wool socks, a new book, and some edible treats. I love the idea of using silks to wrap gifts! We have been using amazon box paper, and yarn, but I like the idea of adding some extra fun and color under the tree. We strive to be less and less wasteful all the time. Thanks for making these.
The vibrant colors of the play silk are very beautiful! I like the idea that it can be used again and again! I’ve used many of the above ideas for wrapping gifts over the years. It’s good to reuse disposable items. I tried to reuse normally discardable items, at least five times. When I was a little girl, most children’s gifts were wrapped in the cartoon section of the paper. I still think that is nice as well.
There’s something beautiful and magical about a gift wrapped in silk – it elevates it to a new place and is so much more creative than a “gift bag”. The fact that the cloth is reusable for dolly beds and dress up is a huge bonus!
I used a sheet from a giant calendar I had. I chose the child’s birthday month and wrapped the gift with calendar sheet from the month. ( PaperSource sells those giant calendars…I love them)
We love to use art work from the year to recycle as gift wrap for family! It is a great way to make it seem like a work of art!
what a beautiful way to wrap gifts! children will love this 💗
I have used cloth napkins for wrapping too!
I think using the Sarah’s playsilks are a lovely idea to wrap gifts. The playsilk would be as fun as the gift itself.
I’ve started to collect the cartoon section of newspapers for Christmas wrapping this year. Also, I’m going to buy some fabric and wrap some friends gifts with them. After Christmas we’ll get together and use that fabric to make reusable beeswax food wrap!
I save just about every gift bag I obtain from events over the years. I actually have a storage bin in the shed dedicated to gift bags, wrapping (full rolls and left over pieces), bows, ribbons, gift tags, etc. I reuse whenever I get the chance.
We recently had to toss paper items due to mold in our home (including wrapping paper!) so I have been looking for non-paper items to start over with. I was considering those giant sacks that are sold around Christmas each year but i love the idea of using colorful silks. These would be great for more than just Christmas gifts but birthday also. I love the ideas that others have mentioned as well!
I use left over paper, bows, ribbons, etc to make sensory bins and sensory bottles for tons of open-ended play for my own kids and the kids I teach! Would love to win some scarves to use in class :-)
I love wrapping gifts with cloth or brown paper (that we cut from paper bags and reuse afterward. We like to find natural “bows” like a pinecone or leaf to tie it to, also. We haven’t yet been able to wrap with silks, but that is an awesome idea, and the kids would love to get their gift wrapped in one!
Love the idea to use silks for wrapping gifts! We have reused old paper and ribbons, used paper bags for art and then wrapped gifts with them, and used old newspapers! Growing up, my mom’s cousin always wrapped her gifts in upcycled magazine pages, and I loved it!
We’ve painted brown paper grocery bags to create upcycled gift wrap. We’ve also used blouses or shirts with a nice print that have been worn or torn in some areas are still nice in other areas. My daughter recently received a gift wrapped in a Sarah’s play silk…she loves it! You can’t go wrong wrapping a gift in a play silk. :)
I “inherited” my greatgrandmother’s knack for saving and reusing wrapping paper, bows, ribbons, etc. from things gifted to me. Unlike her, I don’t iron the paper flat again, though!
Love this idea. At our house we wrap the box top, you can remove the top and then save the boxes for years. We have fun remembering gifts from years past too.
We like to save brown packing paper when we receive package to repurpose as wrapping paper. Pairing it with twine or festive ribbon and a homemade ornament is such a nostalgic presentation.
We have used pillow cases and blankets and have even done treasure hunts that don’t require wrapping, only a treasure map and clues.
I love the idea of using my play silks in a creative and beautiful way to start new traditions.
Thank you!!! ❤️🎁🎄❤️
Depending on the present we used glass jars and art work we have all made just so it’s extra special and we always try find ways to reuse boxes and anything we can :)
Love this. I know I would love to get gifts wrapped so beautifully!
These are lovely! We use our silks for wrapping gifts, but I’m inspired to practice some Furoshiki and up my wrapping game! Around age 3, our boys have each loved to play a game by wrapping things in silks – stuffed animals, cars, blocks – anything to bring you a gift to open. ❤ I love the idea of having another set especially for wrapping!
How beautiful! What a great idea.
This is such a gorgeous and special way to wrap! We reuse bags and newspapers at the moment but this is just stunning! Thank you for the giveaway and holiday inspiration
I love cloth wrapping: the welcoming softness, beauty & quietness of cloth is a wonderful! I also love that any cloth can be used but with the silks it’s two gifts in one!!
Playsilks are a wonderful addition to our gift wrapping options all year round. When our children were young I made reusable bags with offcuts from sewing and gift making. Dish towels are also a favorite now that the family is grown. We also re-use our tags, some dating back to the ’70s! All of these generate lovely conversations and evoke good memories.
We have started using Beeswax Wraps but before that I was using wax paper from
The kitchen and letting the kids pick flowers to flatten and iron into it. Looks so beautiful and such a great activity for littles ones. They know decorate the beeswax wraps which is made from recycled materials. Love the idea of using the silks to wrap gifts.
We keep packing paper to use as wrapping paper and then my children decorate it with drawings, messages, poems, stickers, magazine clippings, etc. Thanks for the giveaway!
I like to use newspaper to wrap gifts, we also always reuse bags and tissue paper. Wrapping the gifts in silk would add something very special for my children!
Currently in our household we have enjoyed wrapping presents with the numerous amounts of artwork that has been completed by my daughter. It’s nice to be able to do something meaningful with her art. She makes a lot! We would appreciate an upgraded wrapping solution for the holidays :)
We’ve used playsilks, tea towels, and pretty fabric before.
I think wrapping gifts in Playsilks is awesome. I use magazines, newspapers, and aluminum foil paper to wrap gifts. It looks fun and creative!
Great money saving & eco-friendly odea. My kids love their play silks, & will love this idea. Now they can pretend to wrap gifts while they play too!
I love this idea! One more great idea for our play silks! Our family usually upcycles newspaper or the brown paper used in packages as gift wrap. My kids then decorate them by coloring them! Now we can do both. :)
What a beautiful and environmentally friendly way to wrap gifts!
I love this idea!!! I have been using cloth to wrap for a while but since i wanted to get my kiddos some silks this would be perfect!
Our kids have been using their silks to wrap presents for each other since they first got them. They were the ones who inspired me to start doing it!
What a lovely idea. We just had a birthday with so.much.wasted.paper and I would love to change things up for Christmas this year. I’ve been wanting to get playsilks for my daughter, too.
Fabric pieces and bags decorated by the kids.
Love this idea! And have used it before! It really makes for a Beautiful and Stunning gift! I always save tissue ans wrapping and bags from gifts given to us! There is always a need to reuse! Even as packaging for when moving fragile things-thank you :)
We also re-use grocery bags and the kids paint on them or draw on them or decorate with plant based dyes, dried flowers, etc. This makes for a wonderful and unique gift in of itself. My children wrap gifts for one another in playsilks and have been doing this forever. They also use towels and sheets for large things adding beautiful natural bows/ribbons for decoration at times.
So much prettier than gift bags!
We use reusable decorative tins for some of our gifts. I just bought our first playsilks for this year and plan to wrap the Santa gifts in them.
Yet another way to teach children to be creative! What a fun family activity it would be to wrap gifts together while learning some new knots.
Especially for baby or bridal showers, I love to create a basket full of goodies – I think my favorite was in a laundry basket, and had sheets and towels for wrapping and padding of the fun housewarming essentials! For Christmas and birthdays, we often reuse gift bags – with five kids and dozens of cousins, we would otherwise go crazy with wrapping paper and tape!
I love using kitchen towels to wrap food and baking-themed gifts, and when I can find the time, I enjoy sewing totes and drawstring bags to use as gift wrapping
My kids already LOVE to use our two playsilks as gift wrap and I’ve bern wanting to expand our collection. I’m notorious in my family for preserving wrapping materials to reuse, and this would make that even easier!
Love this idea! When I gift wrap for gifts outside the house I use brown paper bags leftover that I have from the store and wrap it with some twine. It looks simple and clean!
When giving gifts outside of our home, I’ll use printed fabric pieces, brown paper we have from occasional groceries or newspaper, depending on what I got around and always top with a nice reusable ribbon, and when gifting inside our home such as kids’ birthdays, we always use the playsilk that we got in the past.
I’ve never used playsilks before – we just bought our daughters their first set which will be given on Christmas. I think this is a lovely idea though. I might do it for the cousins! In the past I’ve used reusable shopping bags, newspapers, bags given to us on previous occasions (My husband gets a lot of his gifts in “It’s a Girl!” bags) and we save all of our boxes and tissue paper. Can’t wait to start using playsilks!
I lived in Japan for sometime … and this is one of my favourite things from there that I have incorporated into my life. Using your rainbow silk scarves just takes it to another level!! x
We do potato printing onto cloth and paper, we make shapes of stars and trees and cats and anything else we like and then make lovely, reusable wrap for our gifts, we also stamp simple drawstring bags. It’s really so easy and fun and the results are so beautiful. Wrapping with playsilks would be a dream!
We love using reusable wrapping paper at our house. We sometimes use scrap fabrics to wrap gifts, but our favorite is to use our playsilks. My daughter will often make her little brother a special gift (artwork or a sweet note), and wrap it up in one of her silks. Adding a few more colors to our small collection would be nice and just in time for some holiday wrapping! ❤️💛💚💙💜🖤
Since my oldest was 2 hrs old 1994, we have used playsilks as costumes, forts, hide-aways, baby doll slings, trails to the birthday gifts, birthday throne upholstery, celebratory tablecloths, butterfly wings, interpretive dance accessories. It was about 10 years ago that we started using them to wrap gifts. There is nothing more magical than a gift enclosed in luxurious silk. We still use our original playsilks for wrapping gifts and are happy to stow them back into their basket after gift giving is over. The lack of gift wrap waste all over the floor makes me giddy!
I sometimes use brown grocery bags (Trader Joe’s) turned inside out, and it looks classy and vintage with twine or ribbon! Play silks sounds like a beautiful alternative!
Silks are a great idea! We’re new to silks, but that was our plan for this year. We also love using muslin blankets, kid’s artwork, newspaper, reusing boxes/packaging/wrapping paper, scrap fabric.
My boys absolutely love playsilks so these would double as gift wrap and then turn into toys after :D
I was just telling my husband I wanted to get a few new colors of the play silks (to add to our collection) to wrap gifts with this year!
I try to think of ways to help my grandchildren to understand the importance of reducing waste. This is one of my favorites! A playsilk is a wrap and plaything in one!
We have been using playsilks to wrap gifts for years! It is a beautiful, economical, and time-saving tradition!
I really don’t know why I haven’t thought about using cloth of sort before however I’ve always been the one that carefully removes wrapping paper in order to save it to reuse it along with the gift bags I’ve had for years haha. My husband and I have been living more minimal for years so now that we have a little one of my own passing that lesson of being less wasteful is important. As I child I remember one Christmas in particular where my brother and I played with the boxes our ‘gifts’ came in for hours so including the wrapping in what we are ‘gifting’ our daughter and knowing it’s something she will play with to spark her curiosity wonder and imagination is something I would love to provide her.
Love this idea! Never thought of using silks to wrap gifts!
My wife and I are big on recycling. Passing this on to our kids is important to us, and reusable gift wrap is a great way to get them interested!
What a great use of the playsilks, I love this Idea!
I haven’t used regular wrapping paper for years. I used to use newspaper, but we went online for our news now. I love the thought of using silks to wrap. They have so many uses for all ages. I’ve used a silk as a small shoulder wrap and also a head scarf on windy days. I love them as much as the kids.
I can imagine using a giant rainbow 🌈 to wrap a giant rainbow unicorn 🦄.
We bought playsilks for my son’s first birthday and have been using them for gift wrapping ever since! Now that we have a second child, time to get some more playsilks to wrap double the goodies!
I’ve made fabric bags, using Christmas fabric and used and reused these for many years. Now my children have a collection of my bags from years of gifts. But I’ve never used silks. They look amazing!
Kids art work, brown paper bags, cereal boxes
This is our second year of wrapping presents for birthdates and holidays out of reusable items for Eliot family & friends! I repurpose T-shirt’s into reusable bags and put presents in there. 😊
What a beautiful idea! I can’t wait to wrap my children’s gifts in lovely silks. It’s two gifts in one!
I love this! We live on an island thus minimizing our waste is crucial. Our children have always received fabric wrapped gifts and I can imagine that these scarves would make it even more special!!
I’ve used other fabric before but for some reason hadn’t thought of silks! What a beautiful idea!
I love reusable wrapping paper! I’ve used bandanas and other cloths, sometimes I just tuck the corners in, other times I tie it up with twine or ribbon. Once I attached velcro dots to felt and made a cute wrapping “sleeve” for books. These silks would definitely step up my game!
I love playsilks and reusable wrap, would love to use them for that for my grandkids! Longtime customer in California.
This is brilliant! I’m guilty of using wrapping paper but I do reuse it over and over until there’s no life left
The gift wrap is a GIFT! I had someone do this with a beautiful dish towel once (years ago!) and I still treasure the towel and the memory! So unique and sustainable, too! :)
I love reusable wraps. A few years ago my mom made a bunch from her fabric stash and finished off the edges. Now we cycle them back and forth among family members every Christmas. We also will use brand new dishtowels that we buy as gifts as wrap for other gifts—two gifts in one!
We love making reusable gift wrap from old paper bags and newspaper. We like to make package decorations with sticks and yarn. I have never used play silks for wrapping but it’s such a great idea! I think my kids would love playing with the “wrapping” as much as the gift!!
I LOVE this idea! What a beautiful and sustainable way to give gifts. And the wrapping is a gift!
I’ve used fabric in the past but never playsilks. So pretty. I like thrifted vintage fabric for gifting
My daughter has been super into making forts recently. We got her a set of play clips that she uses with sheets and blankets. She would love to have the colorful playsilks to use in her “projects”.
Would love to wrap our sons new cars for Christmas in a playsilk! We have a couple minis already and he loves to use them for roads!
Play silks have been our go-to toy for years. The kids use them to “wrap” things all the time. What a great idea!
I just think silk gift wrapping would be a wonderful tradition to begin!
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle…I think the play silks cover these. Soooo many uses for play silks. Love it!
Giving my grandchildren play silk gifts, or any gifts in play silks, will help teach them an important way to help protect our environment. We can talk about it and they may use their play silks for wrapping family gifts. We will all agree to return the wrappings to them! They may even choose to give a play silk wrapping with a gift to a friend and realize the wrapping will be part of the gift. They may be teaching a friend a this valuable idea. In time, play silks may even be passed back and forth between friends as gift wrappings! The whole family will be involved in an important and beautiful lesson in sharing and conservation.!
We used some play silks last year as wrapping. We loved it, great way to wrap and usable for play afterwards.
I have used newspaper comics and decorated grocery bags in the past. My mother-in-law introduced reusable bags as gift wrap several years ago at Christmas and we have all followed suit. Silks would be less useful at the grocery store, but more enjoyable in almost every other way!
We have tried to do reusable wrapping for family gift-giving — with a family of 8 it’s pretty important! This is a beautiful alternative to the cloth bags I’ve been using.
I do a lot of sewing and the past two years have saved small scraps of fabric and sewn them together to make gift wraps. Stops textile waste going to landfills, and I’ve put together some really beautiful, colourful wraps!
Lisa Kyle
November 13, 2018
I love the reusable aspect of these gift-wrapping silks. It gets my imagination going to think of all of the future gifts they will wrap. I am certain that these will be a hit, and that they will ignite the imaginations of the recipientes of my gifts wrapped in silk. Plus, I will be extra proud to present gifts wrapped in real silk!