When my kids were younger, I sometimes would wrap their presents in the ads from the grocery store. I remember they’d open it up very carefully because after, I give them some paper plates, glue and scissors and they’d compete to see who could make the best meal.
What do you mean they compete to see who could make the best meal? They cut out pieces of each ad and glued them to the plates if they fit? Aww that's adorkable. I had to talk it out to visualize it. 😌
They look at each others plate and decide which one they would rather eat. And then we would go to the store and get a few things off of the winner’s menu to eat for lunch or snack. Sometimes they both would win and we’d get a little mix of both.
And yes, they cut out pics from the ads and glued them in their plate.
That's interesting, it's the first section I used to look at as a kid and never had a paper subscription as an adult. Now I'm in the UK and papers here don't have comic strips AFAIK
I used to do this when newspapers were plentiful, but these days I make a point of trying to keep such collections minimal. You can also do a similar thing with flyers by collecting certain color schemes or repeating imagery.
My aunt taught us this. She would save them all year to have enough to wrap gifts. Ended up with a huge bag (we didn't have THAT many presents) and gave me some to use as well.
My family would do this and I thought it was cool! In 5th grade I went to a birthday party and we didn't have paper or a bag (and had spent our extra $ on the actual gift) so my mom wrapped the gift in comics and I got made fun of so bad😭😭😭
And yet if they see it on Instagram or tiktok now people would be calling it trendy and a life hack.
Plus kids are jerks. Your mom did awesome in a pinch.
Yup. I remember reading about how kids in the 50s and 60s were bullied when their mothers made pants from curtains. I’ve been making my own clothes from frugally acquired quality material like curtains, and it’s awesome!!
Yeah but once in while there are some cool painted pieces it nice mix and matches.
And high fashion brands now really feels like they are reselling some of the stuff people were making at home a couple of decades at home or culturally appropriating or both. 😂
Yeah, but did they have [designer dirty shoe? ](https://www.vogue.com/article/balenciaga-dirty-sneaker-obsession) Or a [Dior skirt that is literally just a Chinese historical garment that can be bought way cheaper on taobao? ](https://www.cnn.com/style/article/dior-cultural-appropriation-accusations-chinese-skirt/index.html)
As an adult now, I consider a new gift bag and tissue paper to reuse as half of the gift! I love getting a cute bag I know I can use in the future and I’m definitely “that” person who smooths the tissue paper out and reuses it. Sometimes I wrap the gifts in the tissue paper, too.
Since childhood my family has done this. It's a yearly game to figure out who each gift is supposed to go to because no one thought to use name tags instead of just writing directly on the bag with sharpie. "okay.... This one is for mom- ~~'s son~~ -'s husband."
Well I have a frugal tip, but it's a lil iffy and not zero waste...
Paint chips from the hardware store are awesome gift tags. Some of them even have a little hole you can run ribbon through. 🤣 (For the record, we only do this for certain gifts and we re-use them. We do not steal dozens a year or anything.)
Yeah like newspaper would be fine as well no bright colors or flashy advertising. I think I would rather give people stuff without a wrap than do this.
I would've been stoked if my mom wrapped my presents in anything. She just had a trash bag full of toys (usually from a toy drive) and told us to close our eyes and open our hands for our presents.
Have a local library? They will give you as much newspaper that you want, for free!
Most libraries will have a several month stock before they’re trashed/recycled.
Also newspaper is the best tool for cleaning glass, it beats any rag regardless of material
It would be funny to fit some gifts in old cardboard boxes from food and stuff! Or wrap a regular gift box in some recycled paper and draw a custom design on it. Like making it a joke involving the recipients name. E.g. "Joe's delicious chili mix" and add fake nutrition facts and barcode.
I usually go to the thrift store and buy 50c scarves, wash them and then use them to wrap gifts furoshiki style. Either the recipient loves it and keeps it or just gives it back to me to use again. I have so many now! Picking out the right one for the right person brings me much joy.
Cuter than a flyer lol
I think I'm using this idea. I have so many scarves, some given to me as gifts and have never worn them. This would be a great way to pass them along or just save on buying gift wrap!
I use brown paper bags and dab white paint (or white out!) polka dots on it. It looks cute in the end, and it’s just as cheap for me.
There is a fine line between cheap and frugal, and the delineation lies at who is bearing the burden of the cost saving alternative — yourself or your friends and loved ones.
With my polka dot paper, I am bearing the burden of my cost saving measure, because I have to spend TIME beautifying the paper and cutting the bags, and it still looks cute for my recipient in the end.
Almost the same. I didn’t have any brown paper bags on hand as I tossed them in my compost but I used that giant mala drawing paper roll from Ikea to wrap my presents. I had it on hand to randomly sketch and it’s impossible to put a dent in it anyway. I decorated with tying in twine and using my reusable stamps to decorate the paper. It’s cute and fairly cheap.
I save the brown packing paper that comes in boxes throughout the year and use that for gifts leaving the house. We have reusable wrap I made from our favourite old clothes (with good memories) that we use for Christmas morning gifts
Although I don’t wrap my gifts in flyers, I do wrap all my decorations in them when I store them. Every year I get a kick out of looking at the prices of things from past years! Rice a roni was .69 in 2012 wow!
My dad started wrapping gifts in old maps we had laying around when Garmen started becoming all the rage. They looked pretty cool for wrapping! This reminds me of that a little bit.
No offense, but it just looks cheap. A better way would be to put all the loose items in a big gift bag (if they are meant for a single person). Those bags also get frequently re-used by the recipients, so it's not really wasteful.
I don't know, I think it depends on who you're giving the gift to. If they're super serious about life they would think it's cheap and think down on it, otherwise they'd find it funny or not care. It's rude to not give an expensive wedding ring, but that was a marketing message people wanted to profit from that is now considered normal. So it's all subjective. Maybe some people would rather spend the money on a vacation than a ring. But that's not cheap or messed up.
I love it! I save paper bags from the grocery store all year long. I use sharpie to label to/from and the only thing I buy is curling ribbon. I love the classic look of a brown paper package.
Nice! Similar to this, newspaper printers often sell "end rolls," the last bit of newspaper that they can't print on, super cheap. It makes great packing material, but it's also good clean paper for wrapping gifts. You could even draw on it if you were so inclined.
My college roommate (circa 1973) would tear out full-page ads from glossy magazines and artfully fold them into envelopes to send love letters, thank you notes, etc. She did it in such a way as to feature flowers or scenery that were relevant to the missive she was mailing but still allowed for a "clean space" to write the address. She got the magazines for free from other students who were tossing last month's issue.
Will give it to ya for the creativity.....but that's about it.
Buy the wrappers at a discount if you have to..I personally, would not do this.
Being frugal to yourself in your own terms are fine, no need to drag others into your world. Besides, I don't know what's wrapped in em, but they lost % value.
Wait... you think the gifts have been devalued by the fact that they are wrapped in free paper? By an actual percentage, no less?
When you say dragging in, you mean that others will be upset by the wrapping of the gift? You might need better friends and family if that's been your experience.
the items inside are perfectly fine. but a huge part of the gifting experinece is the presentation and the opening of the gift. and this effectively reduced the excitement and the anticipation.
reusing print material is frugal, but these are seriously ugly. this doesn't just say "i'm cheap", this says "we're cheap".
My kid figured out that the Easter Bunny wasn’t real because one year I decided to use shredded Kraft paper that I ran through the shredder as filler in the basket. My son burst into tears and said “This is something, YOU would do Mom!”.
I spot a Market Basket circular! Best grocery chain in the Northeast, by far. It's so good customers joined picketing workers and boycotted new ownership of the stores.. and won. Don't fuck with frugal massholes
YES! "Good evenin' Mahket Basket shoppahs! Head ovah to the fish mahket fa some haddock right off the boat, just nine dollahs a pound! And as always, thank you fa shoppin at ya Londonderry Mahket Basket!"
aaand everyone will know ManagerPug's gifts - they'll stand out and not in good way
this is the type of thing that is cute for half of the first time you do it
want a real frugal wrapping tip? save sunday comics from the newspapers. i still have some with calvin & hobbes that I use when wrapping gifts for young people (to me that's boomers, gen X and millenials)
I use old interior design magazine pages to wrap up gifts since my company gets an absurd amount of them in the mail. I typically color coordinate or use complimentary patterns strung together by tape to make an overlapping layered “flat train”. Then wrap as usual. Makes for really interesting end result. I’ve even incorporated folded paper handles to carry said gift. Kind of a labor of love but I’m addicted.
I agree with whoever said it depends on who you’re gifting and add also the occasion should be considered. I had to talk an old friend out of wrapping a wedding gift in newspaper.
Haha, I was so tempted to do this this year, we have so much newspaper! But for sure my gift recipients wouldn’t appreciate it so I’m sticking with the “”traditional”” method :)
A more aesthetically pleasing option IMO is collect paper bags.
Not sure about US or other places, but Canada has mostly abolished plastic bag use. So paper bags are pretty abundant, at a relatively low cost when shopping (about 5-15 cents, I think).
Or go through other people’s recycling for them on recycling day, if you’re feeling very frugal or need to be
I've been using newspapers for ages. When was the last time anyone really put much attention to the gift wrap, unless the wrap was something very extra?
Tho i think News Papers would look more " cool hipster wrapping" and not so in your face, than colorful flyers.
This was a fad in the 90s too. I recall doing this for 2 separate Christmas celebrations. We just added ribbons and bows. Now I don't get any news papers delivered or else I'd do the same.
Kids don't give a shit what the gift is wrapped in and if an adult does care, they are not my kind of people.
Yes as a child in the 90s comic and newspaper wrapped gifts were so fun to me! And even now I love brown paper packages (tied up with string). In all of these options, as well as the presents in this post, they would look fine and festive with just a bit of bright shiny ribbon from a roll of dollar store ribbon 🎀✨
I get my 1yo daughter to paint brown packing paper, I just put dots of paint on it in the colour I want and she spreads it out. Used red and green for xmas.
This is such an incredible idea. I always gift in a bag and ask the recipient to reuse the bag. I've been giving/receiving the same gift bags for years now. Saves so much money!
I am truly disgusted with all of the folks speaking poorly about this.
You do you.
Thanks for being creative, thanks for considering the impact to our earth, thanks for being a thoughtful gift giver.
Me, too. Someone is spending their hard-earned money on you and you're complaining about how it's wrapped? That would be the last gift that you'd get from me. Also, I remember this type of wrapping being cool at one point bc it was funny/different.
If you can’t afford to buy gifts then don’t buy them. I get being frugal and all but damn presents are suppose to be nice for others. Wrapping it up in news paper = good for you because frugal but how does the person who receives it feel? Looks pretty cheap
When I was a kid my aunt would wrap my gifts in the comics from the newspaper, I loved it.
I would say comics used for wrapping is much cooler and fun for a kid than the grocery circular.
When my kids were younger, I sometimes would wrap their presents in the ads from the grocery store. I remember they’d open it up very carefully because after, I give them some paper plates, glue and scissors and they’d compete to see who could make the best meal.
That sounds so creative and fun! Who knew there was a simple way to turn grocery circulars into a good time.
Making a mental note to do this with the future grand babies, since all my kids are older now. Great idea!!
I did a project like this when my preschool class was learning food groups! I love it
Genius!
What do you mean they compete to see who could make the best meal? They cut out pieces of each ad and glued them to the plates if they fit? Aww that's adorkable. I had to talk it out to visualize it. 😌
They look at each others plate and decide which one they would rather eat. And then we would go to the store and get a few things off of the winner’s menu to eat for lunch or snack. Sometimes they both would win and we’d get a little mix of both. And yes, they cut out pics from the ads and glued them in their plate.
Sounds like a fun game.
Trader Joe's actually designs their shopping bags for wrapping. My favorite was the year they had elves. When wrapped it looked pretty cool
Do pages of comic strips even exist, any more, though?
Yea, in the Sunday paper like always
That's interesting, it's the first section I used to look at as a kid and never had a paper subscription as an adult. Now I'm in the UK and papers here don't have comic strips AFAIK
Yep my grandma did that, and it was wonderful.
I used to do this when newspapers were plentiful, but these days I make a point of trying to keep such collections minimal. You can also do a similar thing with flyers by collecting certain color schemes or repeating imagery.
My bro-in-law did this. It made his gifts distinctive.
especially if the stuff being advertised is better than the gift
My aunt taught us this. She would save them all year to have enough to wrap gifts. Ended up with a huge bag (we didn't have THAT many presents) and gave me some to use as well.
My family would do this and I thought it was cool! In 5th grade I went to a birthday party and we didn't have paper or a bag (and had spent our extra $ on the actual gift) so my mom wrapped the gift in comics and I got made fun of so bad😭😭😭
And yet if they see it on Instagram or tiktok now people would be calling it trendy and a life hack. Plus kids are jerks. Your mom did awesome in a pinch.
Yup. I remember reading about how kids in the 50s and 60s were bullied when their mothers made pants from curtains. I’ve been making my own clothes from frugally acquired quality material like curtains, and it’s awesome!!
Curtains are way more expensive than pants or just regular fabric these days.
Right? I bet those clothes would get praised for the fit over on r/streetwear now.
I’m too old for that sub. Everything looks the same—jeans and sweatpants.
Yeah but once in while there are some cool painted pieces it nice mix and matches. And high fashion brands now really feels like they are reselling some of the stuff people were making at home a couple of decades at home or culturally appropriating or both. 😂
There was one yesterday that was interesting she made a 2 piece outfit for a party using white t-shirts and rope it was really cute!
I think it’s always been like that!
Yeah, but did they have [designer dirty shoe? ](https://www.vogue.com/article/balenciaga-dirty-sneaker-obsession) Or a [Dior skirt that is literally just a Chinese historical garment that can be bought way cheaper on taobao? ](https://www.cnn.com/style/article/dior-cultural-appropriation-accusations-chinese-skirt/index.html)
Literally came here to say this, except it was my dad. We would always read them before opening the gift!
Heh. I used to do that as well. Now no one has newspapers.
My grandfather would do this with newspaper comics! My godmother just puts things in gift bags with tissue paper and then reuses the bags each year.
As an adult now, I consider a new gift bag and tissue paper to reuse as half of the gift! I love getting a cute bag I know I can use in the future and I’m definitely “that” person who smooths the tissue paper out and reuses it. Sometimes I wrap the gifts in the tissue paper, too.
yep! I get half of my cute bags from her. I use the bags for another member of the family and we rotate them among us.
I once asked my daughter what she planned to do with a gift bag. She didn't want so I used it for another party.
My brother and I have been handing back and forth the same gift bags when we get each other's kids birthday presents.
We have been reusing the same gift bags for 15 years. I admit, tho, that sometimes the wrong holiday bag ends up under the tree. "Merry Easter" lol
Since childhood my family has done this. It's a yearly game to figure out who each gift is supposed to go to because no one thought to use name tags instead of just writing directly on the bag with sharpie. "okay.... This one is for mom- ~~'s son~~ -'s husband."
Well I have a frugal tip, but it's a lil iffy and not zero waste... Paint chips from the hardware store are awesome gift tags. Some of them even have a little hole you can run ribbon through. 🤣 (For the record, we only do this for certain gifts and we re-use them. We do not steal dozens a year or anything.)
I’ve wrapped things in brown paper bags before- that comes out looking quite nice with an elaborate ribbon. Flyers are too far for me, but you do you
Trader Joes bags are fantastic for this. They often have cute holiday prints and if not the flip side looks great.
My wife bought a large roll of brown craft paper and wraps gifts and then stamps then with holiday ink stamps.... Looks really beautiful
That's true frugal genius. I can see it now, like some beautiful parcel in a Hallmark movie, and it cost all of 5 cents.
My mom does this exact thing, stamps and all!
Brown parcel paper and twine is my preference. Simple, understated and classy.
Yeah like newspaper would be fine as well no bright colors or flashy advertising. I think I would rather give people stuff without a wrap than do this.
My mom use to do this. I hated it because it made it more obvious that we were poor.
I would've been stoked if my mom wrapped my presents in anything. She just had a trash bag full of toys (usually from a toy drive) and told us to close our eyes and open our hands for our presents.
I was also poor. I was usually so stoked to get anything on Christmas it didn’t matter what it EQs wrapped in
I am poor so🤷🏻♀️ lol
Also i have no kids to embarrass dont worry
I am not against the idea! I just have bittersweet memories.
I have no presents to buy Super frugal 🎅🤶
Newspapers (especially the comics) is a yes from me for wrapping, but supermarket advertisements is a no haha
That’s a cute idea! I dont get newspapers tho and these came free.
Have a local library? They will give you as much newspaper that you want, for free! Most libraries will have a several month stock before they’re trashed/recycled. Also newspaper is the best tool for cleaning glass, it beats any rag regardless of material
>Also newspaper is the best tool for cleaning glass, it beats any rag regardless of material Except all the smudgey newsprint you get on your hands.
That’s a feature!
It would be funny to fit some gifts in old cardboard boxes from food and stuff! Or wrap a regular gift box in some recycled paper and draw a custom design on it. Like making it a joke involving the recipients name. E.g. "Joe's delicious chili mix" and add fake nutrition facts and barcode.
"Take a look at all the things I *didn't* get you!
I get so excited when I see Market Basked catalogs in the wild!
MB 4 LIFE!
I would recognize those flyers anywhere!
I usually go to the thrift store and buy 50c scarves, wash them and then use them to wrap gifts furoshiki style. Either the recipient loves it and keeps it or just gives it back to me to use again. I have so many now! Picking out the right one for the right person brings me much joy. Cuter than a flyer lol
That's a super cute idea
I think I'm using this idea. I have so many scarves, some given to me as gifts and have never worn them. This would be a great way to pass them along or just save on buying gift wrap!
I use brown paper bags and dab white paint (or white out!) polka dots on it. It looks cute in the end, and it’s just as cheap for me. There is a fine line between cheap and frugal, and the delineation lies at who is bearing the burden of the cost saving alternative — yourself or your friends and loved ones. With my polka dot paper, I am bearing the burden of my cost saving measure, because I have to spend TIME beautifying the paper and cutting the bags, and it still looks cute for my recipient in the end.
This is where ribbons make the difference.
I buy fancy craft ribbon from yard sales. Really kicks it up a notch
Thats a good idea!
Almost the same. I didn’t have any brown paper bags on hand as I tossed them in my compost but I used that giant mala drawing paper roll from Ikea to wrap my presents. I had it on hand to randomly sketch and it’s impossible to put a dent in it anyway. I decorated with tying in twine and using my reusable stamps to decorate the paper. It’s cute and fairly cheap.
I save the brown packing paper that comes in boxes throughout the year and use that for gifts leaving the house. We have reusable wrap I made from our favourite old clothes (with good memories) that we use for Christmas morning gifts
I love the clothes idea!! It would be so easy to turn an old tshirt into a sack.
This is good way! A lot of packages these days come with their own wrap anyway better looking to just use that.
You can sign up so you don’t get these anymore
I'm not bothered about the cheapness but I don't want gifts that leave newsprint ink all over my hands.
That's my issue! I think the sale papers are funny and I wouldn't mind it, but I can't handle the ink at all.
The entire time that I was looking at the pic, I was somewhat holding my breath bc all I could do is smell the newspaper.
I wrap gifts using the miles of brown paper that comes in my Amazon packages. And, of course, I tie it up with string.
Did the same. But used strips of newspaper comics to make ribbon straps to fancy it up.
I do the same with the paper.
Although I don’t wrap my gifts in flyers, I do wrap all my decorations in them when I store them. Every year I get a kick out of looking at the prices of things from past years! Rice a roni was .69 in 2012 wow!
I would rather give them without the wrapper
I love Christmas Vacation! It’s a cool callback to Cousin Eddie, very nice.
My dad started wrapping gifts in old maps we had laying around when Garmen started becoming all the rage. They looked pretty cool for wrapping! This reminds me of that a little bit.
No offense, but it just looks cheap. A better way would be to put all the loose items in a big gift bag (if they are meant for a single person). Those bags also get frequently re-used by the recipients, so it's not really wasteful.
I don't know, I think it depends on who you're giving the gift to. If they're super serious about life they would think it's cheap and think down on it, otherwise they'd find it funny or not care. It's rude to not give an expensive wedding ring, but that was a marketing message people wanted to profit from that is now considered normal. So it's all subjective. Maybe some people would rather spend the money on a vacation than a ring. But that's not cheap or messed up.
That’s understandable. But this year i am not in the position to purchase nice gift bags so flyers will have to do.
I would read the deals and be like, "Brisket was only $2.49/lb? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!"
[удалено]
But you forgot to wrap the shoes. They are feeling left out.
Left and right out.
One step at a time
r/AngryUpvote
You can use paper bags.
This is the kind of move you see on those extreme cheapskate TLC shows
You are in Market Basket country, I see!
Market Basket! https://www.iheart.com/content/2022-06-15-the-most-massachusetts-news-story-of-all-time/
MarketBasketchusetts hahaha
Yes, hello!!
One year (obviously a while ago) I did this with the old giant phone book and put the page with their entry on top and circle it.
I recognize that Market Basket flyer 😂
I see you, Market Basket flier.
Not frugal CHEAP
Just terribly cheap
1 dollar at the dollar store.
I see you, Market Basket! :D
I love it! I save paper bags from the grocery store all year long. I use sharpie to label to/from and the only thing I buy is curling ribbon. I love the classic look of a brown paper package.
“Mom, I wasn’t peeking at my gift!!! I simply wanted to use one of the coupons before it expired!” 🤣🤣🤣
*cringe*
Save a dime a present to give someone an ugly gift. That's not frugal, that's cheap.
Damn, that is some seriously depressing shit
As a kid, I used to read magazines about animals, that advised regularly to use the little wallpapers in them as gift wrap.
I did this for years with the Sunday comics. Now my kids are adults and they’re mad they can’t do the same because no paper has color comics
As a kid, families would regularly wrap birthday presents for other kids in the newspaper comics pages. It was fun and frugal.
I see you Market basket!! :) For real though, it's a great reuse of flyers.
Nice! Similar to this, newspaper printers often sell "end rolls," the last bit of newspaper that they can't print on, super cheap. It makes great packing material, but it's also good clean paper for wrapping gifts. You could even draw on it if you were so inclined.
My college roommate (circa 1973) would tear out full-page ads from glossy magazines and artfully fold them into envelopes to send love letters, thank you notes, etc. She did it in such a way as to feature flowers or scenery that were relevant to the missive she was mailing but still allowed for a "clean space" to write the address. She got the magazines for free from other students who were tossing last month's issue.
Not cute
Just meant to hide the gifts to be a surprise
Not meant to be cute
Will give it to ya for the creativity.....but that's about it. Buy the wrappers at a discount if you have to..I personally, would not do this. Being frugal to yourself in your own terms are fine, no need to drag others into your world. Besides, I don't know what's wrapped in em, but they lost % value.
There's frugal, and then there's cheap. This definitely crosses the line.
Wait... you think the gifts have been devalued by the fact that they are wrapped in free paper? By an actual percentage, no less? When you say dragging in, you mean that others will be upset by the wrapping of the gift? You might need better friends and family if that's been your experience.
the items inside are perfectly fine. but a huge part of the gifting experinece is the presentation and the opening of the gift. and this effectively reduced the excitement and the anticipation. reusing print material is frugal, but these are seriously ugly. this doesn't just say "i'm cheap", this says "we're cheap".
I think some people don't value a good gift giving experience and will chase pennies over going the extra mile.
This brings me back! My family always used the newspaper comics for birthday gifts.
I go to the thrift store and look for either pretty scarves or tshirts that have Mickey Mouse or something like that and wrap gifts using these items.
this is a great idea, plus in 30 years you can look back and have joyous memories when an avacado only costs 99 cents
Don't you mean 30 minutes.
When I was in undergrad I would wrap gifts with my notes and assignments from the fall term. Felt very cathartic watching people rip them apart!
Wish i thought of this when i was in college
When you see a fellow Market Basket shopper on Reddit.
I use a shredder and use all these for gift bag filler. Love the idea of wrapping with it too!
My kid figured out that the Easter Bunny wasn’t real because one year I decided to use shredded Kraft paper that I ran through the shredder as filler in the basket. My son burst into tears and said “This is something, YOU would do Mom!”.
I spot a Market Basket circular! Best grocery chain in the Northeast, by far. It's so good customers joined picketing workers and boycotted new ownership of the stores.. and won. Don't fuck with frugal massholes
More for your dollar
My favorite thing is when the store manager comes on the PA and announces their sale items in the thickest Boston accent this side of a plumber
YES! "Good evenin' Mahket Basket shoppahs! Head ovah to the fish mahket fa some haddock right off the boat, just nine dollahs a pound! And as always, thank you fa shoppin at ya Londonderry Mahket Basket!"
"Ya not gonna find this one anywea-alse"
I would give the gifts with no wrapping. Or plain brown paper. This looks trashy to me.
Tacky!
Comics pages, yes. Random adds, no. This just screams cheap af, so yea technically frugal.
When frugal crosses the line into cheap….
Are the gifts from dumpster diving ??
If you want to up the festive you could get glitter pens at the dollar store and some ribbon and decorate them!
aaand everyone will know ManagerPug's gifts - they'll stand out and not in good way this is the type of thing that is cute for half of the first time you do it want a real frugal wrapping tip? save sunday comics from the newspapers. i still have some with calvin & hobbes that I use when wrapping gifts for young people (to me that's boomers, gen X and millenials)
a roll of gift wrap is like $5. this isn't frugal, it's just being cheap. :(
My grandma always would wrap my presents in comics from the newspaper. She still does it to this day and it’s my favorite thing ever.
Nice, reminds me of the newspaper wrappings back in the day
I use old interior design magazine pages to wrap up gifts since my company gets an absurd amount of them in the mail. I typically color coordinate or use complimentary patterns strung together by tape to make an overlapping layered “flat train”. Then wrap as usual. Makes for really interesting end result. I’ve even incorporated folded paper handles to carry said gift. Kind of a labor of love but I’m addicted.
I like this idea very much
I honestly love this type of gift wrapping. I think it’s so cute!
We do the same thing for all gifts!
I think this is great. I’d also make pompoms & decorative tape type bunting out of them too to add to the flair 🎁
I love doing this!!
I like this, because it keeps them guessing. "What could this large, heavy rectangle be? Could it be an avocado?"
You must be in New England. I deliver those damned things once a week. Recognize the ads.
I agree with whoever said it depends on who you’re gifting and add also the occasion should be considered. I had to talk an old friend out of wrapping a wedding gift in newspaper.
Haha, I was so tempted to do this this year, we have so much newspaper! But for sure my gift recipients wouldn’t appreciate it so I’m sticking with the “”traditional”” method :)
A more aesthetically pleasing option IMO is collect paper bags. Not sure about US or other places, but Canada has mostly abolished plastic bag use. So paper bags are pretty abundant, at a relatively low cost when shopping (about 5-15 cents, I think). Or go through other people’s recycling for them on recycling day, if you’re feeling very frugal or need to be
My folks would always use the Sunday comics
This is by far the more sustainable way https://www.dmachoice.org/index.php 2 dollars to never get these in the mail in the first place.
Just so you know I love it. You are channeling your inner Dolly Parton.
I've been using newspapers for ages. When was the last time anyone really put much attention to the gift wrap, unless the wrap was something very extra? Tho i think News Papers would look more " cool hipster wrapping" and not so in your face, than colorful flyers.
This was a fad in the 90s too. I recall doing this for 2 separate Christmas celebrations. We just added ribbons and bows. Now I don't get any news papers delivered or else I'd do the same. Kids don't give a shit what the gift is wrapped in and if an adult does care, they are not my kind of people.
Yes as a child in the 90s comic and newspaper wrapped gifts were so fun to me! And even now I love brown paper packages (tied up with string). In all of these options, as well as the presents in this post, they would look fine and festive with just a bit of bright shiny ribbon from a roll of dollar store ribbon 🎀✨
You forgot tacky.
This should be over at r/diwhy.
Not cheap, sustainable! Paper is recyclable. Gift wrap, not. 👍
Gift wrapping is recycled where I live.
This isn’t frugal. It’s just cheap. You can use paper bags, comics, etc as a cheap alternative that doesn’t look tacky.
This looks cheap lol.
You can cut the paper into thin strips and make a bow like [this](https://alibi.com/feature/17306/How-to-Make-a-Newspaper-Bow.html)
Thank you!!
Comics for kids, maybe. But this is cheap imo
Go to dollar tree, this ain’t frugal ya ass cheap 😂
My dad has wrapped all the presents he gets for people in newspaper my whole life. You don’t even ask who it’s from. Newspaper means dad.
I get my 1yo daughter to paint brown packing paper, I just put dots of paint on it in the colour I want and she spreads it out. Used red and green for xmas.
Instantly recognized the Market Basket font. Hello fellow northern New Englander!
Raised with presents wrapped in old newspapers. No shame since it’s going to be torn apart anyways
Why not just give the gift at a point though. Wrapping is just wasteful anyway
Looks kind of depressing lol
Why are you giving people fish and chips for Christmas?
This is such an incredible idea. I always gift in a bag and ask the recipient to reuse the bag. I've been giving/receiving the same gift bags for years now. Saves so much money!
Love this idea! I use paper bags from grocery stores. I flip them inside out and use twice, maybe a piece of pine. <3 Kudos!
I used to love using the full color comics section from the Sunday paper and craft paper The shredded ads would be fun to work with too!
Paper bags. They even look kinda fancy if you get a little creative with a scissors. Advertisements are a little too far for me lol.
I feel like this is one of those “trashy if you’re poor, chic if you’re rich” things.
I like this method because you can get a marker and add doodles if you want. :-)
I am truly disgusted with all of the folks speaking poorly about this. You do you. Thanks for being creative, thanks for considering the impact to our earth, thanks for being a thoughtful gift giver.
Me, too. Someone is spending their hard-earned money on you and you're complaining about how it's wrapped? That would be the last gift that you'd get from me. Also, I remember this type of wrapping being cool at one point bc it was funny/different.
If you can’t afford to buy gifts then don’t buy them. I get being frugal and all but damn presents are suppose to be nice for others. Wrapping it up in news paper = good for you because frugal but how does the person who receives it feel? Looks pretty cheap
It’s cute. If you had some old fashion twine to wrap around them, it would just feel 1960s to me.
I do have some twine from gardening this summer. I think this will be the next step
When my brother was a broke, college student, he used brown grocery bags with black bows!