I would say the first key to giving free gifts is DON'T throw everything away. Hang on to the good stuff that you could re-gift, or even use as gift wrap.
The tulle I use in these gifts was fabric used at my own wedding reception 6 years ago. My mother-in-law used it as part of the greeting line and let me keep it after word. It smashes down pretty small, so not a lot of storage space taken up.
I've also held onto gifts we received but never used.
This gift was a set of kitchen tools we never opened that we got as a gift at our wedding.
To make it look nice I took it out of the box and wrapped some burlap with tulle around the base of the container.
I also tied some tulle around the utensils to make them stand up and not fall together.
Then I took out some threads from the burlap to
tie the top of the tulle together instead of
using a ribbon.
tie the top of the tulle together instead of
using a ribbon.
I inserted a card and voila!
I thought it turned out pretty nice.
This next gift, believe it or not was totally free!
The baking pan, whisk and measuring spoons I got from our friends who got married a while back. They were both already set kitchen supplies wise and let us pick through the left overs.
The cookie mix I got lucky to receive. It came from my mother-in-law who has celiacs disease. She got it as a Christmas gift from people she worked with. I never used it so it made a great addition to this "cooking up some love" gift.
Our friend's fiance has a 3-year-old girl and I thought it would be a nice addition
to give her a small gift too.
I was fortunate enough to be handed a bag full of plastic animals in all shapes and sizes. I've only given my son a few here and there as prizes for road trips and things, so I still have a lot left over. I found as many cute and small farm animals as I could and put them in a box for her. Yet again free toys.to give her a small gift too.
I pulled up my tulle and used a clear twist tie. Then later I added the ribbon.
I wrote on the card, " The most important ingredient in any marriage is LOVE."
Cheesy? Maybe, but super cute.
So moral of the story: If you're given/offered something free that is legit, think twice before throwing it out or turning it down. Be thrifty and creative, anything could be re-gifted!