JFF - Do You Reuse Gift Wrapping Items?

I also save Christmas cards and cut them up to make really nice gift tags. The art work is so beautiful, I hate to waste them. So I cut them, punch a hole, and attach to the gift bags or use the whole front of a lovely card to decorate a box wrapped with coordinating paper.

Absolutely-especially bows (if not smashed!), tissue paper, ribbon-depending on what kind, gift bags, boxes-if I think I'll use them otherwise I'll recycle the cardboard; wrapping paper when I'm wrapping another gift I always save the wrapping paper that I didn't use for a smaller gift etc. If someone puts that "confetti" type filler in gift bags, I'll usually save that too. We bring the small recycling bin into the room when we are opening presents. All ripped paper goes in there along with cardboard and plastic etc.

We reuse a lot of ribbons because my sister-in-law buys the expensive kind with wire edges. That ribbon is easy to keep and store because it easily winds up into a ball and doesn't wrinkle. We'll also keep any expensive heavy wrapping paper, usually the hand made papers. Gift bags are kept too, and boxes in good condition. I figure, why buy new stuff if you don't have to?

we reuse ribbon, bows, bags, tissue paper and boxes. wrapping paper itself never makes it through the morning lol although we used a lot less paper this year than in the past

Boxes, bows, ribbons, tissue and gift bags.

I have a clear storage container that all of the Christmas wrap goes into.. tags, tape, spools of ribbon, Christmas boxes, gift card holders.. etc.. That way I can go straight to it and search for what I need.

Then I have another Storage container for the other seasonal gifts, Birthday, baby showers, Weddings, anniversaries, graduations..

Just makes it easier on all of us. I have not purchased new gift bags in years. I just continue to recycle what we are given.

One year I had so many I sold them in groups of 6 at a garage sale for $3.00.

I love wrapped packages the best, so I do still splurge on beautiful papers. I know it is selfish, but I just love opening them and giving a beautiful package.

Any and all of it that still looks decent I save and reuse : )

I will occasionally re-use a gift bag only if it is in great condition, other than that, everything goes to the trash.

Yes, I do.

I save (and roll up so it stays nice) nicer ribbons (not the kind that is for curling, but the wide or wired ribbons), nice big fluffy bows, and nicer boxes. I am especially glad to save difficult to find sizes of boxes, not just the plain old shirt boxes that can be found in the multipack at every store in town for $2. The deep ones like robe boxes, or deep square ones, are much harder to find, but so very helpful with items that aren't shirts. :)
If I receive a pretty gift bag I will usually fold it and keep it, and fold flat the tissue paper that matches it so it can be reused.
I do NOT save the actual wrapping paper. Sorry. Speaking of which, I need to hit the stores to grab some good deals on leftover paper this year. I usually find 3 or 4 rolls after Christmas each year that are fabulous (I hate cheap paper, and LOVE the thick foils and such). I refuse to pay more than about $3 for a roll of ANY kind of wrapping paper... so after Christmas is best. Same thing for bags...

I actually had a conversation about this with my SIL on Christmas Day. It always seems to me that every year there are "popular" bow colors and unpopular ones. And if you are using a lot of paper that needs white bows, for example, and it isn't a popular color that year, you will have to move mountains to find bags of bows that contain any pretty white ones. So I always save big pretty bows, no matter what color. When I want to use one, if I have to go buy it, I won't be able to find it in a store. :(

I re-use all of it: bows, bags, ribbon.
I, also, use things around the house to put items in to wrap so I don't buy
boxes. (For ex, the Wheat Thin box, shipping boxes, toilet paper tubes to
hide the shape of little gifts etc.
If I get a paper grocery bag from someone, I turn it inside out to wrap boxes in to ship instead of buy shipping paper or US Postal service boxes
Maybe I'll learn something new here.

I reuse gift boxes if they are in good shape. If a gift bag is in good shape I will reuse that too. I did think it was funny - my son got a gift for his bday (back in November) from a school friend that had, written in black marker, "too Maddy, Love Amber." I wouldn't have saved that but the mother of this child has 4 kids - likely didn't pay any attention! I got a giggle out of it!

Hello!
I will reuse everything that still has life left in it, especially gift bags. Iffy on the tissue paper - it is is torn, it will become "craft supply". Gift wrapping paper is hard to reuse, so I try to stay away from it from the start.

No to bows, ribbon, paper & tissue, but if a gift bag is in good shape &/or shirt box then I'll reuse those.

I save gift bags, and tissue paper. It is great because I never have to buy that stuff! Wrapping paper is too hard to re-use...so that always goes in the trash.

Gift bags and boxes that still hold their basic structure. Nothing else.

I save boxes if they haven't been mangled (almost no stores include them anymore) and have asked the kids to keep the neat tissue paper in them if it's still neat. I save gift bags if they're in good shape - so easy to throw a gift in when you're in a hurry.

I don't save paper and only rarely do I save bows - they just don't last for the full year uncrunched. However, my mom, who was a child in the Depression and a teen during the rationing days of WW2, then had 5 kids and ended up as a single mom when my dad left - was in the practice of frugality by neccessity - she saved it all. Folded up the paper, packaged the bows, etc. I thought everyone did that until I grew up and watched people throw it all out.

Unless it's torn, smashed, really crinkled, or chewed on by our cats, I reuse it all! In fact, I don't think I've bought tissue paper or gift bags for at least 5 years.

Mostly boxes, tissue and gift bags. And gift card holders.
(Does anyone NOT re-use gift bags? LOL)

I was pretty proud of myself this year--I didn't use much wrapping paper at all and I didn't even break into the "new" ribbon. Used up everything I already had.

My mom resues everything, even going so far as to steal packaging from other people so she can take it home and use it again. We unwrapped the same boxes and opened the same gift bags this year that we have been unwrapping for the last 6 or 8 years. Really.

It has become a bit of a joke in our family, but she still does it.

I save and reuse gift bags and boxes. We have boxes that have been reused for probably 4 or 5 years! I do remove or cover any previous tags, though! I don't have the patience to fold & re-pack paper, tissue, or bows! I'm excited about the after-Christmas sales now that I have room to store stuff! I will be prepared for next year for sure!

Gift bags, boxes, and bows - occassionally tissue paper. Throwing it out is such a waste.

always, bags and tissue paper. if we ever get boxes that aren't torn up by the kids, those too. sometimes, bows :) not wrapping paper.