Giving gifts, getting gifts, and saving money are three things that most people enjoy doing. A question recently posted to Reddit encapsulated all three, and the response was overwhelming.
The Reddit user posed a question about gift bags to the subreddit r/Anticonsumption only to find out they're not alone, and for good reason.
The original poster asked: "Does anyone else reuse gift bags?"
"I get really happy when someone sends me a gift using a gift bag. Because last year I discovered that unlike gift wrappers which get torn up and thrown away, if they are still in good condition I can reuse the gift bag for someone else! I hope I'm not weird by stockpiling old gift bags lol," they added.
Well, if that Redditor is weird, then a lot of people are weird. A 2024 survey showed that 87% of Americans reuse gift bags, ribbons, and wrapping paper.
Even so, Americans still spend billions of dollars on gift wrap each year. As recently as 2022, it was estimated that $2.6 billion is spent on wrapping paper every year in the U.S. The average household spends $15 to $25 on wrapping paper each year, but that can be much higher or much lower depending on the size of a family, the number of gift-giving occasions, and the quality of the wrapping paper.
Then there's the environmental impact of using and throwing away wrapping paper. Each year, the U.S. sends about 2.3 million pounds of wrapping paper to landfills, enough to wrap around the world nine times. One option is to recycle the paper, but not all wrapping paper is recyclable.
So, it's a good thing so many people are now reusing gift bags.
One Redditor reuses gift bags for other reasons, but the impact is the same. They commented: "I have a collection of them in my garage for the exact lazy reason of not wanting to wrap a present or go out and buy paper."
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Cheaper clothes 🤑 Another commented: "My family has been reusing gift bags for all Christmas gifts for each other for many years. Some bags are 20 years old!"
"I thought everyone did this? Even my friends who have lots of money, like surgeons, do this," another Reddit user commented.
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