bubblyjock Lovely ideas, Vanessa: hard to believe the framed and very pretty simple white blossom on a pale blue background is really just wrapping paper!

Happy Christmas :)

paula16 Use as seasonal table runner or placemats

janet4784 Make holiday journals and scrapbooks with it. You can make envelopes for holiday mail as well.

olldroo Memo to self -

1. Choose wrapping paper with future use in mind.

2 . Train grandchildren to open presents without shredding paper. Hmmmm......

3. Forget presents - just buy paper.

JAN MOYER Weird..... don't see any foil gold, silver, no trees, and no red Santas, no green elves.... are you sure you've been to a discount store in November? Life is complicated enough. Some stuff just needs to go in the trash. Next week will begin the January onslaught of organizing articles, and the categorizing of storage, and the containers to hold it all !! Now we're saving wrinkled, used gift wrap ? Seriously.....too many folks already are drowning in saved stuff, and the containers to store that and the lint they save. Just don't ! would be my advice : )

olldroo Oh, Jan, did you have a good Christmas, you are sounding a little cynical. :). I must admit I was a little surprised to see no Christmas wrap here, but I know the writers are bound by only photos they can find on Houzz.

JAN MOYER olldroo,
Had a SUPER GREAT xmas!!!! All the TRASH is out too! : ) How bout you? Merry merry? lol

scarbowcow Everyone knows it's a letter from me when the envelope is made from elegant wrapping paper lined with tissue paper. I normally don't use Christmas paper, but keep my eyes open for nice designs - usually Italian - which are not easy to find here in Central Europe: paper products aren't all that great here (good for the budget - no temptation!).

JAN MOYER Scarbowcow,
I'll give you this : You are a real Girl Scout! : ) : )

bubblyjock Jan - in our house, this attention to detail isn't Girl Scouting, it's Marfa-ising. ;)

Faye Sawatzky Good ideas, but none of these ideas used Christmas wrapping paper.

Deb Joshi My 30 cents wrapping papers look nothing like these :D otherwise i would feel sorry for ripping them. Moreover if family don't behave, next year i am demoting to newspaper :P

kjray Some Christmas papers would be beautiful framed to decorate for the season. It is something I will keep in mind for next year.

JAN MOYER Deb Joshi,
LOL!!!! Use the comics! Lots of color : ) If tthey get worse, demote to the obituaries

Deb Joshi Lol Jan you are meaner than I :D and I wrap coal sometimes for the lil ones :P (kidding)

JAN MOYER PS Ladies,
Leftover WALLPAPER, especially the really fabulous ones, makes much better, super duper and sturdy wrapping papers.....and actually can be suitable for framing or otherwise. Ask your paper hanger/painter! Many of them have left-over you can't even believe it's so great. I know mine does : ) because there is only so much I can keep and save and save.....wrapping paper will never make the list...

JAN MOYER and then it got worse.... sorry kids I could not resist. Happy New Year : )!

You save paper, you save string

You save just about everything


You think you save money oh yes that too

But are you sure you that you really do?


You bought a hundred containers last year

You may need more again I fear


Buttons and bows, and baubles and bills
Socks and scarves, and expired pills
Sweaters and soaps and makeup as well
A peek in the closets will surely tell


A New Year is coming, think hard on the junk

Plan to save less, or surely be sunk


Your time has a value, I am certain you know

Into the trash old wrappings should go

retromomma I was fortunate to receive a complimentary box of bows, ribbons & gift paper for several years in a row provided by a printing supplier as an annual gift for clients as former national brand manager in the home furnishings industry. Still working off the freebies to this season but the other day pined for the opportunity to purchase gift wrap at the local crafts store with colorful designs and papers (I'm down to silver, gold & angel motif). Then I see the roll contains MAYBE enough wrap for five presents-shocked by the thin wafer tissue like consistency and even less paper on the roll than imagined. So perhaps by next holiday season the "Gift" paper will be all used up and I can embrace some of these ideas-I've been out of the biz for 12 years-that is how long these gift boxes have lasted! Thanks to HOUZZ I incorporated the japanese art of wrapping gifts this season too in scarfs & fabrics! Cheers!

olldroo Great Christmas thanks Jan, spent at daughter's so she had to take care of the mess!!! Don't forget I'm a day ahead of you, one extra day for the Merry, Merry to wear off. Lol!!!

Deb Joshi - Newspaper and plain brown paper actally comes up looking good as gift wrap, add festive ribbons and/or bling and it really looks creative.

Sheila Schmitz Christmas wrap needn't have Santas and reindeer on it; I love wrapping gifts in pretty paper that can be used at least twice in projects big and small. :)

ploefff If I get a present wrapped in paper in a particularly nice colour I go nuts with a hole punch and make confetti for New Years eve - the rest of the paper goes in the bin.

sclawson Love all the ideas, but just about all this paper does NOT look like Christmas wrap. Anyway, I often use leftover wrapping for cutting sewing patterns. Not something that really features the wrap pattern, but still a reuse.

Vanessa Brunner Thanks everyone! Just a note — with almost a million photos on Houzz, we have a lot of gorgeous images to choose from to support our stories. Each writer takes care to look for photos that will work best in our ideabooks. Sometimes, that means using images from elsewhere too — when we have permission, of course. I choose these gorgeous shots both as inspiration for beautiful wrapping paper you may have on hand, and to inspire wrapping paper choices for the future too :)

Tammy Brown I use modpodge and Christmas paper to make reusable gift boxes.

JAN MOYER Tammy scarbowcow, and ploeff deserve the honorary Girl Scout badges for the week. Gotta say ..before you'd find Modpodge in here, you'd find a personal pedicure soaker machine thingy in my bath, or the Crock Pot I gave away, returned to my kitchen!! Of note however , in my former more "hands on" life: I cut /covered sturdy angels for a Christmas tree ( in a fit of youthful domesticity) in cute little calico papers... to go with an orange wall in my 1975 living room. (Which sad to say is having a color revival and I am not yet over the old one !!!!) . ...no idea what I did with those angel ornaments but obviously my career path was plotted with importance placed on making the tree acknowledge my decor... : ) Thanks for making me recall that sticky afternoon of calico papers : )

aspire2bacat I completely understand those who don't 'get' the re-use of paper, and they have a solid argument for the cost involved in saving said paper, but it I would lay odds it is NOT about saving money for the majority of those who re-use paper, Christmas or otherwise. It is an appreciation for the beauty of the paper, whether texture or pattern, or possibly memory associated with what was wrapped within. I am one of the savers/re-users, and do so for all aforementioned reasons - not for cost savings. I even (gasp) purchase paper with the sole purpose of using for reasons other than wrap (e.g. framing). There are a myriad of other uses cited above that I'd not thought of, and am grateful to have read them. I am most intrigued by the book cover idea! Oh boy.. When I get my office done (current project) I'll have a craft table and I see one of my first projects lined up!

And I have to say, I love Jan's mention to demote unappreciative gift recipients from the Comics section to the Obituary section wrap ;) That warranted an audible ;)

ploefff I wasn't expecting this great honour but I have taken the liberty to write a little acceptance speach in advance: "I'd like to thank my mother for never flinching when her 5 year-old was sawing through box upon cardboard box in persuit of the next fantastic robot adventure with her breadknife in hand and my dad for always letting me borrow any tools I needed - especially indulging my great love of holepunches and stamps. I still giggle every time I need to stamp something and I hear the mechanical crunch of the stamp. it's almost as great a joy as I feel when I empty the holepunch and have instant confetti because let's be honest life is more fun when you have confetti."

JAN MOYER PLOEFF,
That comment was even better than the confetti..... and deserving of a shout out! : )

poof I see two problems with using Christmas wrap for decor. First, I don't want to look at red/green combination patterns except at Christmas. Second, the paper I buy would not stand up to real handling, such as bookcovers or placemats, or drawer liners.

My parent's generation always had a drawer for used wrapping paper and ribbons, and even the little children carefully unwrapped gifts trying not to tear it.

lrakestraw When I get particularly cute wrapping paper on a gift I save a piece, wrap a matchbox or small jewelry box and hot glue it to a wreath that just keeps getting better each year. Lots of memories on that wreath!

Brenda Carpenter Vanessa never even saw these comments coming...Jan and Ploeff...my husband and I are in stitches!! Thanks for the comments!

JAN MOYER brendacarpenter,
On behalf of ploeff and myself.... thank you and glad you got a good lol. Curtsy here..: )