Tonight I met a friend for dinner and gifted him a T-shirt as an early Christmas present. The T-shirt already had a cool all-over pattern, so it made for a pretty presentation all on its own. By simply rolling a T-shirt you can hide the main graphic and your recipient will have fun unrolling it and revealing the design! One of the best things about wrapping-free gifts? You eliminate the burden on your recipient to dispose of the wrapping.
Here's How I Rolled My T-Shirt:
1. Lay T-shirt flat with the front facing upwards.
2. Fold sleeves over front of shirt.
3. Fold shirt in half from shoulder to shoulder so that the front graphic is hidden.
4. Starting at the collar, tightly roll the shirt to make a neat cylinder shape.
5. Tie shirt with some twine, ribbon, or yarn. You can add a pine sprig or other small item as a decorative topper. Unfortunately the candy cane I used is not zero waste because of the plastic wrapping - there's always room for improvement!
For this shirt, I used a piece of yarn that I had saved from the packaging of a pair of earrings I bought from a small business artist. Americans throw out 38,000 miles of ribbon each year - that's enough to tie a bow around the Earth! (source.) Keep a stash of reusable ribbon, yarn, etc. from presents that you receive so that you don't have to buy new every year. And forget those 6-inch ribbon curls - curling ribbon is made from polypropylene (plastic.) (source)
Americans spend $7 billion on wrapping paper (trash) each year (source)*. If you're struggling with the idea of not wrapping your presents, just remember that going green usually also saves you some green. Remember my good, better, best philosophy from my last post? If you're not ready to give up gift wrap completely, try to think of some creative ideas to reduce your wrapping paper consumption. Giving multiple shirts to someone? Skip the individually wrapped shirt boxes and roll them all into one box or gift bag. T-shirts themselves can be used as creative wrapping for other gifts!
* Please do not use wrapping paper as a fire starter - it can cause chimney fires and the dyes let off toxic chemicals (source.)