By Jessica Christensen, Staff Writer
It is commonly said it is better to give than to receive. This statement is put into practice during the Christmas season, but buying gifts can be a struggle for college students on a budget.
It is hard enough to find the money to purchase gifts, let alone to wrap them, so it is always helpful to find alternative and innovative ways to save money. There are many different alternatives to wrapping Christmas presents to help keep more money in your pockets.
Instead of buying expensive wrapping paper from a store, use recycled paper to help cut down on spending. Newspaper is perfect for casual gifts.
“When I don’t have a lot of money, I wrap presents in magazine pages,” said Nick Fleming, freshman theater and speech communications major.
Another common form of gift-wrapping is using Christmas gift bags. These, like wrapping paper, can be quite costly. Because these are often used for gifts, a lot of people have the extra bags lying around their house that can be used a second time.
There are also some fairly uncommon and unique alternative gift-wrapping ideas. Sometimes it is hard to decide what kind of wrapping to use when giving to large groups of people. For small goodie-bags, try using socks. Once a sock is filled, it can be tied at the top and decorated. Depending on the contents, the sock can be tied at three places and decorated to look like a snowman.
Sarah Hill, junior marketing major, said that she uses fabric she already has.
“I have a ton of scrap fabric around because I sew,” Hill said. “You can use it for small gifts like CDs. Tie it with a ribbon and it looks really cool.”
The key to saving money this season is to use what you already have with these alternative wrapping ideas.
