I would absolutely love it if the gifts I wrapped looked like the one you see above, but my gift wrapping resembles that of a toddler’s.  I admire, and usually beg them to wrap my gifts, the people with great gift wrapping ability.

Have you seen the prices of gift wrap lately?  Oh gosh.  You can get gift wrap at Dollar Tree for $1 but it wraps 1 or 2 gifts.  You can get a roll at Walmart for $2-$5 depending on the size.  They wrap a good bit, and are beautiful (when I don’t wrap them!) but there’s no point in even paying $1 to wrap a gift.  You can find alternatives in products from your own home or cheaply bought material.  The upside to this, other than it’s extremely frugal, is that it’s custom to the person to whom you are giving the gift, and it’s fun!

Use these in place of wrapping paper for just a gift or 2 and see what you think.  You may never buy that $12 fund-raiser wrapping paper again.

• Let your young children draw pictures and use them as wrapping paper; that would work great for small gifts.  For large gifts, get large rolls of brown packaging paper and let them draw on it.  In the long run, even buying the big roll of plain paper will save you money because it will wrap so many more gifts.  However,  there is really no need.  Just use a lot of pictures; grandparents and other family members will love this  because they’re getting double gifts!
• Fabric- First of all, The Frugal Girl (whom I just wish I was and looked like because she’s beautiful, talented, and the definition of a domestic diva! without the attitude- and her name is Kristen, like me!) has a post dedicated to making gift bags out of old clothes and fabric.  If you have old clothes that don’t fit or you never wear, turn them into gift bags and The Frugal Girl will show you how.  These bags can be any almost any size to fit almost any gift that’s hard to wrap with paper, and they’re beautiful.  I loved her post because she used some fabric looked like velvet.  If you make the bags and give them to immediate family you can even reuse them because you’ll get them back.  The recipient gets 2 gifts this way too, because they will have a bag they can use to give someone a gift or for repurposing. Also use fabric to wrap gifts that aren’t bagged.  Cut up old clothing, like dresses, and use the fabric to wrap around the gifts you want to wrap.  For crafters and those who make clothing, use scrap fabric as gift wrap, and sew the gifts shut.  You’ll have to take more time but the end result will be one-of-a-kind!
• Maps- I haven’t used an actual map in years.  I don’t even know if I can read a map, although I shouldn’t admit that to anyone.  The invention of the internet might have been my educational undoing.  I use Map Quest or Google Maps whenever we need to go somewhere we’ve never been, and my husband takes care of the rest.  I can’t even drive anymore.  All that to say that if you have paper maps laying around, chances are they may be obsolete because things change, roads are made, and landmarks come and go.  Use those huge, inconvenient maps to wrap gifts.  Kids love that kind of thing.
• Comics/Newspaper- Most of us buy newspapers for coupons, right?  Well, there’s your gift wrap.  Cover your hands so they don’t end up all inky, and use them to wrap gifts.  Use the sides with pictures, use the comics, or find other creative ways to use newspaper as gift wrap.
• Old calendars- I usually have 5-6 calendars by the time the year is over because I get them free, as gifts and I always buy myself one from the Calendar Store or Calendars.com after January 1 because they’re all on clearance and there’s 364 days of the year left.  I find it pointless to buy a calendar before they go on clearance, because they DO go on clearance at the very end of December and they are just darn dirt cheap (for the NICE ones) by the 1st week of January.  So anyway, other than framing some of the pictures and using them for art and crafts, use some of them for wrapping gifts.  Perfect!
• Decorate your gifts- Use natural elements for gift wrap decorations like pine cones from your yard combined with a few twigs (yes, it looks nice) or use ribbon that’s laying around.  Be creative, re-purpose items laying around the house to decorate your gifts and they will look like you paid a professional to wrap your gifts.

A girl I know gives beautifully wrapped gifts, and when I get one I really do hate to open it and mess up the wrapping.  Those are the kinds of gifts that are fun to give.  How do you save on gift wrapping?