Gift bag recycling saves money
My wife gave me my valentines day gift in a gift bag that I think we have given back and forth to each other about 10 times. It still looks good, but I was just wondering if anyone else does this or if it is just me.
It is amazing how much money is made off of the gift giving accessories. Gift bags, tissue paper, wrapping paper, cards, ribbon, etc. I noticed that frequently when we are trying to buy the gift and accessories all at the same store (this is the result of last-minute shopping), the accessories can be 10-20% of the total amount spent.
If you go to party stores and stock up on some of these items it really can save a ton of money. Or in our case, just keep giving each other the same gift bag for about 3 decades and save a lot of cash!! 
Do you stock up or reuse gift bags? Any other gift giving tips to share?
And here are a few interesting articles I have read the last week or so…
Gazelle intensity is scriptural via Gather Little by Little
Extreme Personal Finance: America on $10 a Day via Get Rich Slowly
Six Persistent Money Myths That Seem To Stick Around via The Simple Dollar
7 Things Women Wish Men Knew About Money via beingfrugal.net
The Fine Art of ‘Reverse Budgeting’ via fivecentnickel.com
Haven’t the Mortgage Lenders Learned Yet? via DebtFREE-Revolution
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Great article! We reuse all gift bags. Just be sure to label the bags with tags or masking tape. Some people get upset if you give their bag back!!
good point – I guess that is one of the re-gifting golden rules!!
Definitely… We reuse them a ton. We had so many that we have trouble storing them!! We saved all the tissue paper from our wedding presents too. It came in really handy during our recent move!
Yep, I definitely reuse gift bags. I always make sure that either the original tag doesn’t have any writing on it or that I tear it off!
Not only do I reuse gift bags, but I found that frequently our local “dollar stores” carry a huge assortment of gift bags, tissue paper, bows, etc. at a fraction of the cost of a regular retailer. This enables me to both stock up, and do last minute shopping with no guilt!
I’ve been know to reuse the gift that was in the bag also. Fruitcake anyone?
Best Wishes, D4L
You’re not alone, Bob. I reuse gift bags when I can as well.
D4L,
I have a fruitcake for you – I will send to you next christmas!!
My wife will keep gift bags from either gifts or from stores, she likes the look of the sometimes, and boxes of all sorts be it from the mail or from gift. And then, while she is out running errands, I LOVE to go around and throw away the ones that are buried and forgotten about!
Re using gift bags is really needed for our environment to be clean and not to be too abused.
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