I have to mail gifts to family many times durring the year. I try and mail stuff in the box in which they came if the box is stong enough and often I mail books, cd's, dvd's and calenders because they can all be mailed media mail which is 1/4 of the price as regular postage.

 I try and recycle paper bags to wrap the items being shipped but I found a cheaper, sturdier, more attrative way last night. I went to Salvation Army Store and got an entire roll of wallpaper for .70. The roll was much heavier and sturdier than paperbags and I did'nt have to piece bags together to be large enough to cover the items I was shipping. I wrapped two medium size boxes and one large stack of items being shipped media mail and I still have most of the roll still left. I have bought brown shipping paper before but a roll cost 3.79 and I only get less than 1/2 of the ammount than I did with the wallpaper.

Just a hint I thought you dollar stretchers mailing packages this holiday season might be able to use.

Sounds like a great idea. How does the post office feel about it? Sometimes they can be fussy about these things.

I mailed it from the a US Post Office and they did'nt mind at all. You may get a different answer if you try UPS

What a creative (and potentially beautiful) way to wrap packages! I really love this idea - thank you for posting it!

What a super idea Miserly! Thanks for the tip!

On a side note about mailing packages..when you do wrap a package, also write the name and address on the box, too. If the packaging gets torn, the post office will still know where it's going and avoid the package getting lost in the shuffle.