I couldn’t leave the topic of holiday gifts without mentioning another useful "style"... not of wrapping, but of its handling! ...With the eyes and hands of the reverent recycler.

Sure, it’s fun to rip a package apart! Also, some people don’t have room for storing a bunch of saved-up stuff.

On the other hand, it’s a real shame to let that beautiful, useful (sometimes expensive) stuff go to waste! You’ve probably also noticed that a lot of the interesting ingredients for distinctive and captivating gift packaging mentioned in the sections above are such left-overs.

Okay, I come from a long line of pack rats - recycling is just moi. But I’ve also moved a great many times, and I don’t keep just any old thing. (Not to mention that the last time I moved, it was to a place without any sort of typical shopping opportunities! ...If I didn’t get it when I went "out" for the day, it isn’t available, period - and it’s sad when creativity is running high and the materials at hand running low.)

I won’t try to convince you to become a Christmas wrapping recycler. It takes a certain mentality, I suppose. But I’d just like to point out that it doesn’t take much effort.

This is the "three-container method of mass gift opening" that my mother and I devised...

Each person has scissors or pocket-knife at hand. We’re all "trained" to assess the feasibility of saving usable paper, ribbon, tag, etc. ...If everything’s crushed, or too small, or whatever, we get to just rip and slash! Usable wrapping paper goes into one container; usable ribbons, tags, etc. go into another container (or pile - they make an attractive jumble on the table!); and trash goes into another container. (And then I usually glean more from the "trash" afterward! - yep, I’m into it.)

Here’s a list of possibilities to look for in the way of ingredients as you open those gifts...
  

• Tissue paper - I’m always running out of this! I save all the okay-looking, not-too-torn-up sheets for wrapping fragile items, padding small containers, or hiding the shape of an obvious gift. You can always use tissue paper for outer wrappings too - a ribbon works magic on it; or stamp it, draw on it, add stickers, etc.

• Ribbon (and its ilk) - Like it? - save it! Even shorter lengths of wide, flat ribbon can be taped around a box, or pieces of it can be taped/glued to a box (for instance: a medallion on top of 3 rayed pieces of ribbon; a gift card atop 2 ribbon stripes). Narrow ribbon and braid bits make good gift tag tie-ons (and that stuff is hard to come by when you need it). Don’t bother untying the curled ribbon "bouquets"... you might want to use them as is!

[A tip for using ribbon clumps that have been tied around a package: If it still has "strings" attached, just tie them around a slightly narrower package - a knot at the back may not be the norm, but it works and can add visual interest at the back. Or, of course, you can always tie the clump onto a new ribbon conjunction on the front. ...See? - they’ll be fine!]

• Bows, specifically - Good-looking stick-on bows, of course. In fact, a nice bow or a "doodad" stuck down onto a ribbon clump (or even a squashed ribbon!) can make a great new decoration. (And you can always make your own bows from ribbon later.)

• Other decorations - People often add interesting thingummies to the "bow area", as it might be called, of packages. ...If you aren’t going to hang them as ornaments on the tree, save ‘em for next year’s wrapping extravaganza and pass them on. (Give a bunch of them as a gift, even...)

• Speaking of passing things on, what about passing them back? - I have a lot of fun with this... Special friends who give specially-wrapped packages to me often get their wrapping materials back a later year! If it obviously had particular meaning for the person who used it for your gift (e.g., gorgeous, expensive paper or container; hand-stamped, kids’ art work; etc.), it’s worth it to remember whose it was. (Sure, put a sticky note on it if you have to.) It’s such a kick to have it return! (Sometimes we pass them back and forth multiple times... Yes, another layer of meaning for the gift.)

• Containers - Of course, you might want to use that canning jar in the kitchen, or that pretty box to hold your rubber bands... But if you don’t find a use for it and have the storage space, why not save it for next year when you wrap? (You probably thought of giving that to-you-unattractive glass candy dish to the Salvation Army, didn’t you? But Aunt Esther might actually like it when she gets her gift in it next Hanukkah. Anyway, if not, she can also pass it on as a distinctive gift container!)

Also, inner boxes can come in handy too - I always try to have a few on had (jewelry cases, small lidded boxes, and especially the fold-em-flat department store type)... You never know!

• Tags - You might think it odd that I should mention tags, as they’re personalized. Well... Aren’t you going to give your husband, kids, parents (those you’re opening gifts with, I’m thinking of) gifts again next year? - why not reuse the tags you can salvage? Also, some gift tags can be taken apart (e.g., cut the picture off of the fold-over card tag) or refurbished (put a sticker over the personalized portion?).
    

Tell you what, just keep some of these things in mind next time... Who knows, you might get hooked!

Fold the large papers flat, or roll them around wrapping paper tubes you save for the purpose. (I keep tubes of paper in a drawer, flat-folded sheets in a paper tote bag. Used ribbons, bows, and doodads in another bag; rolls of new ribbon in a fourth. A pretty basket holds my cards, stickers, and tags - available on a shelf year-round... One doesn’t wrap gifts only in December!)
  

And sometime later, after the opening (for me, much later), as you put those holiday decorations away, consider the potentialities of such items as...
  

• Tinsel (that can be used for a "nest" in a gift box)

• Garlands that may have worn a bit too much to be given star billing

• Burnt-out Christmas light bulbs

• Decorative Christmas light chains with some broken members (the others can be used individually as decorations)

• Christmas stockings that have seen better days

• Christmas cookie tins

• Leftover wrapped candy canes

• Candle stubs (use them later as sealing wax-like decorations, inside luminarias, melted down to make new candles, etc.)

• Stale gingerbread men (next year’s tree or package ornaments - or this year’s winter critter treats!)

• Cut paper snowflakes you like to make every year (use them on wrapped boxes)

• Christmas cards you don’t want to keep

• Limbs of the broken fake Christmas tree

• Interesting bits of discarded wreaths

• Are you sure you want to throw out that calendar?
    

Recycling is good for the planet, that’s undeniable... But it’s also a just plain fun challenge!