

After the absolute mess that has been 2020, I'm tired. I'm ready for the holidays to come, like, right now.
I'm not always that into Christmas, but this year I feel weirdly nostalgic and excited to get stuck into it. But let's be honest, wrapping paper and decorations can mean A LOT OF waste.
So I set myself a challenge to try do it a little more sustainably this year. Here are seven of my favourite gift-wrapping and decorating hacks (and yes, there's one involving le grand toilet roll, the unofficial icon of 2020)...
1. Go hunting around your own home.
My first tip would be to take a good look around your house. Collect anything that could be reused - old cardboard, secondhand wrapping paper, bags, pens, paint…. You name it. Reusable calico bags from when you went shopping and you kept in your bottom drawer? Add a bit of string or ribbon and you’ve got yourself a rustic wrapped gift.
Gather everything you find together in a pile and start getting creative. I found these bits and bobs in random draws throughout my house and decided to set myself a challenge to turn them into the perfect Christmas present wrapping for my dad.
Image: Supplied.
Take any old bag you have and put your gift contents inside. Next, bundle it all together with some string/ribbon/anything you can to tie it together. I found some old wrapping paper I had saved from an old present but it was awkwardly small and a bit ripped. To make it look fresh, I folded it into a thin stirp then stuck that onto the top of the bag. This is a good tip for covering any branding and making the gift look ‘new’.
Next, I popped a card on top and got a bit of greenery to finish it off. The total process took me less than five minutes, and I felt good as it was all reusable (the best part is the reusable bag can even be used to stash any other presents or things to take home on the day, so it becomes really functional as well as sustainable!).