Comic pages - a great way to wrap gifts, especially for kids, is to use the comic section of the newspaper. They will have fun (hopefully) trying to read some of the strips while waiting to open their gifts.
Towels - Inexpensive holiday themed hand towels, for either the kitchen or bath, are a great way to wrap a gift for any lady on your list. They are cute, and something someone might not buy for herself. This is especially nice; if the gift they are wrapping is something they can pamper themselves with in the bath, like lotions or bath gels, or cute kitchen gadgets.
Brown paper bags or newsprint - wrapping a gift in brown paper bags or newsprint provides a wonderful canvas for creative minds to decorate. Use markers, crayons, rubber stamps, etc, and let the kids draw all over them. Grandparents, or aunts and uncles would love it, and will probably not even want to open the gift, so be sure to take pictures of the gift.
Gift bags - gift bags are a nice and simple way to give a gift. Surround the gift with colorful tissue paper, some curled ribbon tied around the handle, and you're ready to go. Gift bags can be expensive sometimes, so look for good deals at discount or dollar stores.
Baskets - sometimes you can get away without wrapping the gift at all, by putting everything in beautiful basket, wrap it in clear, or holiday plastic, tied off with ribbon and you're done. The basket is not only a great way to present the gift, but is a useful part of the gift itself.
There are also many stores that offer free gift-wrapping with purchases at the store. This is a wonderful convenience for many busy shoppers. Others may charge a small fee, but you have to balance time against the savings of doing it yourself.
If you want to use traditional wrapping paper, and do it yourself, stock up on the paper at the end of the year sales to use for the next year. This will save quite a bit of money, and wrapping paper doesn't go bad.
