Make your own fabric wrappings and do away with using single use wrapping paper!
It’s a good idea to have a selection of bags of different sizes so that you’re not trying to squeeze a huge item into a small wrap, or having a lone CD floating around in a massive sack. Having simple squares of fabric are good for wrapping books and boxes.
You can do what I do, and ask for your fabric wrappings back again… If you’re personally handing the gifts to the person, they can give you back your wrappings after they open their gift. Then you can use them year after year. If the recipient will be willing to switch to using cloth wrappings, then gifting them a wrapping will help boost their collection, and then next year you can get one of theirs, and your collection will grow and change 
To go completely reusable, think about making gift tags too. Something like felt or fabric with the person’s name embroidered (or fabric painted) on…. so that it can be reused again next year too.
Choosing the Fabric
Buying Christmas printed fabric is best done in January, when the stores are trying to clear it out cheap… But if you don’t want to wait almost a whole year to start your fabric wrapping collection, and you don’t want to spend a lot on the Christmas fabric, you can always buy the MUCH cheaper plain fabric (maybe red or green poplin) or plain calico… and use nice ribbons to make it look more festive.
(hurredly wrapped, but you get the idea)
Or, if you want to go even more eco-friendly, look in thrift/op shops and buy good sheets and fabric remnants and use those. You might even find old Xmas tablecloths. You can make gift wrappings for birthdays and other occasions this way, where you wouldn’t want Christmas prints…. and who says Christmas gifts need to be wrapped in red/green or Christmas prints anyway…
To make a bag with the ribbon sewn into the side seam…..
Take your fabric and cut a piece that is twice as long, or twice as wide as you want it. Depending on the fabric you use, and the size you want to make… and if you want 2 side seams, or one side and one bottom seam….. you’ll have to figure out how best to cut it for your fabric. In this example I’ll be folding the fabric so that the seam will be on one side and on the bottom.
Pin a piece of ribbon into the side seam allowance, a few cm down from the top edge of the fabric.You want the ribbon to be a bit longer than twice how long you’d like it to be.
If your ribbon as a good side and a bad side, make sure that the good side will be showing when the bag is tied – this means your good sides of the ribbon should be touching… it looks wrong, because when you turn the bag, the good sides are together and you see the wrong sides, but when you tie the ribbon up, it goes around the bag, so it works – trust me! … so… good sides of the ribbon together and it should come out as it should. I suggest you make one, check it works, then make more… or use double sided satin ribbon so it doesn’t matter 
Now sew up the side/bottom seams of your bag. If your ribbon has wire in it, you might like to remove it first if you’re overlocking/serging, or place it out of the way of the cutting blade. Also make sure you don’t overlock over the pin! Make sure when you sew up the seams you don’t catch the ribbon in them!
So you now have a bag with a ribbon poking out from the side seam
Then hem the top (or you can do that before you sew up the side seam, as it’s easier to do when it’s flat)
So there you go…. no more paper wrap!
