Do you save and reuse Christmas gift bows?

[JessReplanted]

Yes, and gift bags and tissue paper if it is still in good shape. ðŸ‘

[GailV]

I would if we had them, but we are a furoshiki family, so every year we just pass our beautiful wrappings back and forth. :)

 

We just started furoshiki this year!  Where has this been all my life -- I love fabric and fiber, I love doing things with fabric, I love origami -- it's just so very satisfying!  I want to go find more things to wrap up just so I can do more.  Except I'm out of prepped pieces of cloth.

 

The only issue I have with it is that I sort of want to swipe the pieces of cloth back once the recipient unwraps the item.  

 

BTW, we just have some gifts wrapped in furoshiki. We also have some wrapped in cloth bags I sewed, some in newspaper, some in wrapping paper purchased in previous years.  It's a hodge podge. 

 

As for bows, in our early years as a family we were usually shipping gifts, and it's sort of a pain to ship a gift with a bow sticking up on it, so I got out of the habit of using them much.  We save the ones that look decent.

[SamanthaCarter]

I use reusable fabric ribbon unless it is leaving our family.

Edited December 21, 2017 by SamanthaCarter

[hepatica]

We don't even wrap anymore. My MIL gifted us some fabric gift bags a few years ago and they are awesome. Just stick the present in and tie the ribbon bow. I have made many more of these in all sizes (they truly take no sewing skill at all), and we now put all our gifts in them. The only gifts that are wrapped in paper are gifts from outside our family. It is truly liberating!

 

For gifts that are leaving the family, we put them in paper gift bags that we have collected over the years.

[Kassia]

We don't use them but, if we did, I'd reuse them.  I reuse gift bags and tissue paper, too.  

[Dmmetler]

30+ years ago, my MIL bought a roll of Pound Puppy wrapping paper. That wrapping paper is still under the tree every single year at either my SIL’s house or ours, because MIL carefully saved and reused wrappings, and about 3/4 of that roll was still left when she died 15 years ago. DH and his sister carefully save and reuse that wrapping paper every year, and have stories about getting reused wrapping paper, boxes, and bows on gifts every year. (DH’s favorite story was getting a wedding gift for our 1994 wedding, wrapped in paper reading “Happy Birthday USA 1776-1976!†(In fairness, we did have a Red White and Blue wedding on Memorial Day weekend).

 

My FOO uses Sunday comics and newsprint, with fabric ribbons or fabric scrap bows.

 

I save gift bags, and birthday gift bags get passed from kid to kid at birthday parties. I think DD has gotten one specific Frog one three times so far :).

 

DD had a cheer team party last night and was appalled that someone had written her name right on the gift bag because “that means it can’t be reusedâ€

 

I don’t use many bows because our gifts generally have to travel. DD does like using stickers.

[Kassia]

I use Christmas wrapping paper that I buy on clearance to wrap birthday gifts for the family throughout the year.  It's so cheap - I get it for .25/roll.  I just buy the plainest kinds I can find.  If there are Christmas balls on them, I pretend they are balloons.  :p

Edited December 21, 2017 by Kassia

[Ausmumof3]

I do save and reuse gift bags. I find with other stuff it tends to explode around the house one way or another and send me crazy so I prefer the clutter gone. I do sometimes save extra nice wrapping paper or tissue paper for the kids to craft with but more often than not it ends up spread around the house and crumpled anyway.

 

I'm torn between environmentally friendly practice and minimalism.

[kiwik]

Wrapping paper often gets damaged or has creases so I don't really see how I could reuse it, but a bow may have only been on a gift a short time or left untouched. Gift bags are often left in good shape so folding and setting aside seems logical to me even if it makes me look cheap. I'm not sure you would know about my habits if we were friends, though. You give me a gift, I store the bag later. I wouldn't reuse it for the gift giver unless maybe it was close family and no one cared/remembered.

It is probably an upbringing thing. I don't worry about people judging me for reusing paper because everyone I know does it. We used to use the nicest bits to cover our school books.

[Junie]

We don't use bows.

 

I don't save wrapping paper.

 

I save tissue paper if it is going to be reused in the next week or so.  (Most of my kids' birthdays are clumped together in the summer, so I reuse tissue paper for those gifts.)

 

We use and save gift bags.

[Rachel]

We don't even wrap anymore. My MIL gifted us some fabric gift bags a few years ago and they are awesome. Just stick the present in and tie the ribbon bow. I have made many more of these in all sizes (they truly take no sewing skill at all), and we now put all our gifts in them. The only gifts that are wrapped in paper are gifts from outside our family. It is truly liberating!

 

For gifts that are leaving the family, we put them in paper gift bags that we have collected over the years.

I just finished sewing fabric bags for this Christmas. I’m excited not to have to wrap presents anymore.

[Sandwalker]

Yes! Also gift bags and not-to-wrinkly tissue paper.

[sbgrace]

I don't use bows on at home gifts. 

 

I do re-use tags though. I have pretty ones, and I write in pencil so I can re-use the following years. If I used bows, I'm pretty sure I'd save them for re-use!