We moved from a 973-square-foot house to a larger one this year, and I did feel a pang of guilt about it.  (Joy wrote about the joys of small-house living here, and we published another ode to tiny spaces here.)  I have found that there are a few environmental advantages to a larger home, and one of them is the luxury of a gift wrap closet. 

As you know from our first ever Green Baby Guide post, I don’t like to use regular wrapping paper.  That’s why I love having an entire cupboard devoted to decorative boxes, ribbons, gift bags, and tins.  In a little cardboard dresser (which was my only dresser back in my starving grad student days!), I keep manila envelopes, ribbons, tins, and boxes.  I also have a whole box dedicated to gift bags, none of which I paid for myself.


Here’s that reusable gift wrap photo again.  I use tins, decorative boxes, ribbons, and bags year after year!

Whenever I need to wrap a gift, I go up to the ol’ closet.  My husband is used to seeing the same big red box every birthday and Christmas.  Some boxes and bags I use just within the household if I am not willing to part with them.

So now I’ve made you long for a gift wrap closet of your own, but you don’t have a closet or cupboard to spare?  Fabric gift bags may be the solution.  (We raved about them in the first post mentioned above.)

Does anyone else have some creative ideas for wrapping presents without creating piles of waste?  Let us know!  For more Works for Me Wednesday ideas, head on over to Rocks in My Dryer.