Receiving a thoughtful gift from someone is a special moment. Sometimes that exchange is just as special as the gift itself. Wrapping with care and love is more than just about the paper or the gift itself,  but also about your recipient's happiness and excitement as you create this special moment for them. How you wrap your gift can build on this element of wonder.

We love to give and wrap beautiful things and see how others create their own traditions. We asked our friend Veronika Goisova to share how she and her family wrap their presents each year, as they have such a magical and thoughtful approach....

"We have a family tradition of recycling and reusing wrapping paper. Each Christmas we bring out some favourites that have been with us for many years as well as creating some new wrappings for the years ahead.

I never liked the idea of buying new rolls of wrapping paper each year and after just one use, throwing it all away. Many types of wrapping paper are not even recyclable, those with glitter, metallic, or plastic coatings for example. And there can be so much waste if you don't think it through.

I save every packaging paper we get through the year. It could be a plain brown one or pretty tissue paper, paper bags, old newspaper or book pages. My kids get gifts from friends and family and I often save this store bought wrapping paper as well so our gifts under the tree are a mix of everything.

I like to think a little outside of the box. Gifts can be wrapped in different materials such as fabric. You can use tea towels or napkins, or just scraps of fabric like old clothes that are beyond use or repair or remain after a sewing project.
 To make plain brown paper more interesting we like to decorate it with potato stamps- this is a creative activity for the kids before every Christmas.

I also save every string and ribbon or piece of yarn. A piece of linen fabric for example gives you the most beautiful ribbon when cut into strips.

When I wrap I tend to use as little tape as possible and use strings and ribbons instead, so even if one is in a hurry to open the gift, there is less chance it will rip.

Of course not all of the paper gets saved and stored each year, some of it does get ripped as you might expect, but some of the pieces we have actually had for years and the kids just know to be careful with those “special” ones :) 

And that's how upcycled, reused and handmade just becomes part of the tradition so easily. If you or someone you know made it, you naturally value it that much more.

You can make your wrapping extra special and decorate the gifts further with little objects. My favourite are pieces from nature or Christmas ornaments, I like to use evergreens, pinecones, dried apples, or oranges, and my favourite is birch bark, you can cut easily any shapes out of it, I like to use cookie cutters as templates with the kids, to draw out the shape and then cut it out."

Thanks to Veronika for this gentle and inspiring approach.

Follow Veronika for more ideas. And for thoughtful gifts, you can find all our gift edits HERE.