Inexpensive Gift Wrapping Ideas

I know that there are families out there who struggle to get through the holidays. Trust me, I’ve been there…even the gift wrapping was a costly expense for me at times, especially if I had ran out the year before. I have learned over the years how to plan ahead for a lower income budget and how to manage on one for the holidays. I did a lot of couponing and planning for certain deals to hit that would help. I knew the months when they’d put toys on clearance at Target and would buy ahead. If anyone knows how and when to get a good deal, it’s me.

So I decided to write a post on how to gift wrap for less and make it look like it was more!

I wanted to keep my wrapping paper simple this year. I will likely use some of what I had leftover from the previous years, but I am all about minimal design this year, so that will be the majority.

• First off: plan ahead! When the stores put Christmas on clearance this year, wait for the 70 or 90% off deals and score some bows, paper or accessories for next year. That is really the BEST way to save.
• If you need something now, I’ve got you covered. Dollar Tree is your best friend. So is the Target Bullseye’s Playground (aka Dollar Spot). At Dollar Tree, you can find the 3M Packaging paper for $1 per roll and that roll will do several gifts. It is thinner than Kraft paper, so it is easy to work with. You can also pick up some scotch tape there as well, but I usually buy the $.97 roll from Walmart. It lasts a long time.
• Find some cute accessories to adorn your packages with. I picked up these cute little bells, twine and chalkboard trees in the Dollar Spot. The bells add a pop of color and are fun and festive. The cardboard snowflakes were a little bit of a “splurge” at Michael’s. They were $5, but 50% off. I figured having 10 would go a long ways. I’m not sure that we even have a total of 10 gifts.
• You can always find some holiday stamps that you can use year after year. Hobby Lobby has a great selection every year, but this year I found these in the Dollar Spot at Target. I plan to use the tree all over the front of some of my packages. And the other will be used on the backside to label them.

All of this was around $10 and will take care of all of my presents! I might need one more roll of paper, but we will see! Even if it does, that will just add $1 to the cost.

People don’t realize how much wrapping paper and supplies add up, but they can! And it can make the holidays a little tighter on some of our wallets and we really don’t want that. This gift wrap idea should help those who need it or can inspire you to not spend as much if you really don’t want to! Either way, I hope you found this helpful.

Happy Holidays!