I guess Santa cares about being green and thrifty too because he brought cloth wrapping paper (furoshiki)! He told me I should pass along the idea because it can save a lot of money, a lot of garbage, and it is super easy. With the holiday sales coming up, you may be able to find cloth fabric for up to 90% off! The tags are wood ornaments you can personalize yourself (and re-use).
We have been using cloth wrapping paper for a few years now. We use both cloth bags and furoshiki wrapping. The furoshiki wrapping is gorgeous! It really dresses up the tree and makes it a very homemade Christmas.
How to Sew Cloth Christmas Paper
CHRISTMAS SQUARES: Cut the fabric in squares (varying sizes, but try to stick with a square). It doesn’t need to be perfect, but the squares are a little easier to fold. Hem around the outside (hand sewing is fine, a machine will be faster).
CHRISTMAS BAGS: Fold the fabric so the design is facing in and then sew the two open sides. Hem the third open side (the opening of the bag). Then flip it so the design is facing outward and you have a gift bag!
CHRISTMAS BANDANNA: Buy a Christmas Bandanna! Hobby Lobby carries them (regular price is $1.27). 
There are many Christmas prints and they are already a good size square that does not need to be sewn. They will go on clearance with all of the other Christmas items. The package with the penguin tag is a bandanna.
How to Fold Cloth Christmas Paper (Furoshiki)
If you made a sack then just put your item in and tie the top with ribbon.
Furoshiki Fold – If you have a flat then there are a few different folds you can make. This page 
has many of the traditional folds. The green package with the Christmas tree tag is tied using the second fold on that chart. The green stripe package (at the top of the post) with the red ornament tag was tied using the first fold on the chart.
The Burrito Fold – put your item at the edge of the cloth, make one fold toward the opposite side, fold in the sides and continue the fold to the edge. Tie the package using ribbon in a T-pattern (wrap it all the way around the package and then twist it and wrap it the other direction). Tie a bow at the top! The package with the green ornament “Daddy” tag was made using the Burrito Fold.
The Bow Fold – put your item at the edge of the the cloth and roll it to the other edge. 
Take the two loose ends and pull them together to the center of the package and tie them with ribbon. Fan the material out so it looks like a large bow. You can also do this fold starting the item at one corner and fold to the other corner. A corner to corner fold will result in a smaller “bow” but it will hold a larger item. The blue snowman package with the red ornament tag on it was wrapped with the bow fold.
Green Christmas Gift Tags
How do you mark your packages if you can’t use stickers! Hobby Lobby, Michaels, JoAnn’s, and many other “craft” stores sell wood ornament kits that you can personalize. These are perfect for tags! They range from $0.35-$0.99 each before discounts and you can use them again the next year.
Related Posts:
- Budget Christmas Challenge – Join Today!
- Three Tips for Thrifty Living
- Top Five Free Deals
- Free Personalized Calendar
- Christmas Fabric Napkins (artycrafty.wordpress.com)
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Brilliant! Can’t believe I never thought of it before. My mother has used cloth wrappers before for some things, but I never thought of it for Christmas! Of course! Thank you!!!!
You’re welcome 🙂
Very nice Heidi! I’m glad to see other people looking outside the box for gift wrapping. Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome 🙂 I love the way it looks under the tree.
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