Have you received lots of those plain white clothing boxes? Hand your kids some markers, stickers, or ink pads and stamps and have them decorate the boxes to be used again and again for holidays, birthdays, or for whichever occasions you give gifts. Do you have a sewing machine? Make your own sturdy, reusable bags out of fabric. Using fabric scraps or old clothes (t-shirts work great for this), make bags of various sizes. Cut fabric into rectangles of desired bag size, sew together three sides, and hem the edges of the fourth side. Use another strip of fabric to tie the top in a neat bow. You can even sew that strip of fabric into one side near the top of the bag to use as a permanent tie. Make gift tags on small pieces of paper or cardstock, punch a hole in it, and tie it to the gift bag with a scrap of yarn. Once you have a supply of these bags on hand, wrapping gifts becomes faster, taking only the time to tie the bow, and you save lots of money on gift wrap and tape.
Do you receive lots of paper wrapped gifts? Open gifts carefully and save the paper to use again.