Christmas can fill the wheelie bin while emptying your bank account. The amount of waste we produce goes up 30 per cent at Christmas! One way to reduce the rubbish load is to go for re-usable fabric wrapping instead of the paper stuff.

It could feel a bit weird and intimidating the first time, but it takes the same amount of time to learn as wrapping with paper, only you don’t have to find scissors and sticky tape!

Here’s a few simple ones:

Make your wrapping part of the gift, with themed presents, for example:

• a cookbook wrapped in a tea towel or apron
• a bucket and spade wrapped in a beach towel
• jewellery, sunglasses or an item of clothing wrapped in a matching scarf
• a book wrapped in a library bag or tote bag.

A quick search of google, Pinterest or Youtube will yield a plethora of tutorials on wrapping with fabric. It’s not exactly a new idea; the Japanese art of furoshiki has been practiced for centuries.

If you can sew, a simple gift bag is one of the simplest things to whip up and can add a nice hand-made element to your gift.

You really don’t need special equipment or specific sizes, you just need to be willing to play around a bit until you are happy with the result. And it is well worth the effort. According to the CSIRO Australians use more than 150,000 km of wrapping paper during the festive season- nearly enough paper to wrap around Earth’s equator four times! 

Come and have a play on Sunday 10 December 2025 at the Art of Fabric Wrapping event in Fairfield, Victoria.

And let me know any ideas you have for wrapping/gift combos where the wrapping forms part of the gift!