No-Stress Christmas // 52 Minimalist Gift Wrapping Ideas [Save Time & Money + Make Pretty Gifts]

You can get creative with your holiday gift wrapping without a lot of time or effort. Let’s be real, the holidays are the time when we could use less stress, not more. Minimalist-style gift wrapping creates gifts that look unique and pretty without the busy visuals, and it’s very easy to do.

Why minimalism?

Minimalist gift wrapping has more perks than just being pretty, it also tends to be pretty easy to create, requiring minimal work and materials, and can also be very eco-friendly.

Minimalism has become a pretty popular style over the past few years, and it’s not hard to understand why. It’s pretty, it makes everything feel clean and uncluttered, which can feel like a real break from the culture of consumerism so many of us are used to. So it’s understandable why the idea of minimalism has seeped into the holidays, arguably the most “consumer-y” part of the year.

So if you’re looking to bring minimalism into the holidays, you’re in luck! The aesthetic of minimalism can be transferred to holiday celebrations in many ways, and one of those is gift wrapping. It’s partly about trying to cut down on waste and being more conscious of our purchases, and partly, the gift-wrapping just look so pretty.

The holiday waste is real

Even as we try to address climate change and the amount of junk we’re adding to our ecosystem each year, it can be hard to really figure out how you can help as just one person. Well, the holidays are a pretty big time for creating waste, but there are things we can do to help curb that waste.

Also, check out this list of 24 Christmas gifts that don’t need to be wrapped!

You can find out more about the seriously massive amount of waste that happens during the holidays just from wrapping presents and the small changes that can really help here and here. Hint: Find out if you can actually recycle your wrapping paper!

I still remember seeing the pictures from a Chinese Christmas factory… yikes.

Minimalism saves you time and money

This is a guide to minimalist gift wrapping that anyone can do. It’s very simple, and chances are it will actually save you time and money over this holiday season. With minimalist wrapping you’ll need to buy fewer materials, everything is wrapped in the same materials and you can really streamline the process since everything is going to be wrapped in more-or-less the same style.

I really hope you guys leave here with some minimalist inspiration that calms your gift-wrap-panic.

Minimalist Christmas wrapping ideas

I feel a little like I’m writing a lecture on minimalism, but I swear we’re getting to the actual gift ideas!

This post includes:

• A quick overview of minimalist wrapping ideas to help inspire you
• Examples and tutorials for creating pretty minimalist presents
• A comprehensive list of materials you can use to create that minimalist aesthetic
• Book suggestions you might like

How to create a minimalist gift-wrapping style:

• Pick neutral colors (blacks, whites, browns) and maybe add a splash of color – red gift tags against all white wrapping paper or a few gifts that have dark green wrapping paper while most have brown wrapping paper, for example.
• Avoid patterns, or choose very simple patterns that preferably keep it to 1 or 2 colors.
• Use fabric, tissue paper, newspaper, or other wrapping alternatives to traditional wrapping paper.
• Consider using twine in place of ribbon, or even forgoing any sort of ribbon altogether.
• Use pieces of nature instead of bows – add a flower, twigs, evergreen foliage, pinecones, or other greenery in place of the bright, shiny bows you’d usually use.
• Instead of a name tag, use a polaroid image of the person the gift is for and tape it or tie it to the gift. You can take and print polaroid photos at home with an early Christmas gift for yourself like this camera.
• You could also avoid using tags by using a stamp to add names directly to Xmas presents.

stamp set

More minimalist wrapping ideas

25 Minimalist Gift Wrapping Ideas

25 photos of minimalist gift wrapping ideas.

5 Simple Ways to Take Christmas Wrapping to the Next Level

This list of gift wrapping ideas includes a couple of the ones mentioned in the list above, but with photos to give you a better idea of how your gifts could look. It also includes some ideas that aren’t on the list above.

2 Simple Gift Wrapping Ideas

The wrapping ideas here are actually made for Valentine’s Day (so you might want to save them!) but they certainly can be used for the winter holidays as well, and they’re very easy to create and minimalist.

Fabric Gift Wrapping Tutorial

This tutorial goes through how to create some beautiful gifts by wrapping them in fabric.

Cool gift ideas:

• What is a spooky basket: The best new fall tradition and 25 things to put in them

• Essential 2020 gift guide – 43 ideas for remembering the weirdest year ever

• 20 great outdoorsy gifts for dads

Things You Need for Minimalist Gift Wrapping

Once you go through all the cool ideas for your minimalist gift wrapping, it’s time to grab some of the materials you need to get your gift wrapping done.

Try not to wait until this last minute to get this stuff! Speaking from experience, it’s always better to get everything set a little too early, rather than a little too late, even if you don’t actually wrap anything until the night before.

Wrapping paper

When looking for minimalist wrapping paper try to find a paper that’s simple in design. For instance, monochrome colors or simple patterns.

Check out this example of some cool monochrome gift wrapping.

Minimalist wrapping paper alternatives

You can go a step further in you minimalist pursuits and choose to wrap gifts in alternative materials, such as:

Packing paper

A big roll of packing paper like this is great for a few reasons:

1. It totally fits a minimalist style
2. There’s lots of it, so you can wrap all your gifts with the same paper. Again, very minimalist.
3. It’s easy to write (or stamp) on. We’ll get to that below.

Newspaper

If you can find some old newspaper it makes great wrapping paper. Because it’s pretty thick, you don’t have to worry about seeing through it, and it looks really cool and modern. You can also use it as an alternative to tissue paper, stuffing it in the top of gift bags.

Fabric

Use old sheets or tablecloths (or find some on the cheap at a secondhand store) cut them to size, or rip them for a more rustic look.

Use reusable bags

Paper bags certainly are included in this option, but you can also pick up or make some reusable fabric bags like this that, once opened, can be stashed and used again next year.

Paper lunch bags for smaller gifts

You can get a ton of these paper lunch bags for cheap, then simply drop the gift in and roll down the top of the bag, taping it or puncturing a couple of holes in the top to run twine through.

Small burlap bags for in-the-tree presents

I really like the tradition of putting some smaller presents up in the Christmas tree. It’s like the Christmas version of hide and seek. It also helps save space beneath the tree. Little burlap gift bags like this are perfect for smaller gifts that are light enough to sit up in the branches of your Christmas tree, and still keep that minimal aesthetic going strong.

Minimalist gift tags

You can buy cute, pretty elaborate gift tags pretty much anywhere during the holidays, but if you’re going for something minimal you might want to avoid the standards.

Instead opt for tags that are:

1. All one color, particularly neutral colors (although a brighter color can be used if it’s your “pop-of-color”)
2. Plain brown paper tags like this

Gift tag alternatives

If you’d prefer to scrap gift tags, but still need to label your gifts somehow, try a minimal gift tag alternative, such as:

Stamps instead of gift tags

You can get customized stamps with people’s names on them, but that could get pricey. Instead grab set of alphabet stamps and some ink, so you can easily spell out everyone’s name directly onto the wrapping paper.

Markers to Write directly on the wrapping paper

You can use either a traditional marker or a white marker like this to write names directly onto the wrapping paper.

Polaroid | Polaroid Camera | Polaroid Printer

Grab a polaroid camera and go old school. Take a photo of the gift recipient and attach it to their gift. You can even write their name and a note on the back of the polaroid if you want.

Tip: If you aren’t able to take a new picture of the gift recipient, check their social media, particularly Instagram, to find photos of them that you can print off. You can print them off on a traditional printer using photo paper, or check out this mini scanner/printer that’s made for exactly this purpose.

Minimalist gift decoration ideas

So once you’ve got your present wrapped up and looking gorgeous, you might wanna add a little extra somethin’ somethin’ to them, but still stay within the realm of minimalism. No worries, no problems. Hakuna Matata, my friend. Here are some minimalist gift decorations ideas.

Twine instead of ribbon

Get that minimalist some twine. Minimalists love twine.

It’s true though. Twine is a great item to incorporate into your minimalist Christmas decorating. You can tie it around your gifts, just like you would traditional ribbon, with a bow and everything.

You can also opt for something a little different, like wrapping the twine around presents several times, like this:

Twigs, flowers, berries

Go forth and forage for fallen twigs, wildflowers, leaves, and other natural elements to add some decoration to your gift without running into anything too flashy.

Stamps for a DIY wrapping paper pattern

Yes, we’ve heard this before. But instead of stamping names onto the wrapping paper, you can find stamps that have designs for Christmas trees, Hanukkah, snowflakes, and more.

Pick a stamp design or two for your gifts. Stamp some, leave some plain. Stamp some with one design, stamp others with a second design. Stamp a pattern across the whole gift or stamp once for a more minimalist approach.

Markers for creating your own wrapping paper pattern

If you have some plain wrapping paper (like some of the ones listed previously) you can add a personal touch by using markers to draw directly onto the paper.

Not an artist? Don’t overthink it. A simple sketch of a tree, snowflake, or even a snowman would all look awesome.

A couple reads you might like