The Cheapest Wrapping Paper

The cheapest wrapping paper is newspaper, because it's free! Just choose pages of the paper that suit the person (or the gift). Here are some suggestions:

Using Newspaper as Gift Wrapping Paper

use the comics (especially the weekend coloured comic pages) to wrap children's gifts
for a sports buff (or if the gift inside is related to sports), use the sports pages
for a business man, use the business pages
for clothing (especially women's and girls' clothing items), use the fashion pages

Where to Get Free Newspapers

Lots of households don't subscribe to a paper anymore. How, then, can you get free newspapers? Here are some suggestions for that:

get your friends, neighbours, and/or relatives to save you their papers
pick up discarded newspapers at local coffee shops or fast food restaurants
use the advertising flyers that are delivered to your house
pick up a couple of in-store flyers when you are shopping

Flyers aren't as good as newspapers, since they don't cover the wide variety of topics that a newspaper does. However, they are always in colour. Even if you are forced to cover your gift in flyers that show strawberries, melons, cucumbers, and bananas, you will still get a nice, colourful result. And, remember, it's all free!

How to Make Newspaper Prettier

If you don't like the idea of using just plain newspaper, you can take a few sheets and decorate them, so that they look "prettier". Here's how:

use water colour paint, or coloured markers, and draw large bows in red (or another rich colour like blue or green) on the newspaper, then let dry
make a "sponge stamp" of an appropriate object (e.g. a teddy bear for a child's gift, a fish for an avid angler, a bell for Christmas), and "stamp" it all over the newspaper, then let dry

How to Find Drawings to Use as Templates

If you can't draw, it's very easy to find black and white drawings which you can use as templates on the internet. Here's how to do it:

go to the Google website (www.google.com)
near the top right-hand corner, it says
Web Images Maps News Video Gmail more
click on Images
the word Images is now in bold; now when you type keywords into the box in the middle, Google will search for pictures, not words
type in the word "coloring" and whatever other keyword is appropriate (e.g. "teddy bear", "fish", "bell") and click the "Search Images" button
it will take you to a whole bunch of images; click on one you like
this will take you the original page that contains that image; also the top third of the page will give you a choice of seeing just the image alone
to see just the image by itself, click at the top where it says See full-size image
this will take you to a page which has only the image; you can print this directly to your printer (File → Print)
if you want to save the image to your computer, here's how: (a) if you have a two-button mouse, right-click the image; (b) if you have a one-button mouse and a Macintosh, hold down the Control key and click on the image
now you will see a list/menu of choices (like "Save Image to the Desktop" or "Save Image As …")
click on one of these choices (but remember what part of your computer you saved the image to!)
once you have printed out the image, you can cut it out, and use it as a template for your drawings, or to make a "sponge stamp"

How to Make a Sponge Stamp

If you don't know how to make a stamp out of a household stamp, here are some websites that will help (however, I should warn you that most are aimed at children! Don't be insulted, just follow the directions).

Make Sponge Art Wrapping Paper

How to Make Sponge Stamps

How to Make a Flower Stamp

What About Ribbon?

If you don't have any left-over ribbon that you can use, there are other alternatives. I suggest some common household string (cotton or hemp twine is best), which you have dyed with food colouring or paint. What follow are some instructions on how to dye the string.

How to Dye String

Remember: only use stuff which you already have on hand. You never go out and actually buy anything! Here's how you can dye household string:

locate some food colouring, poster paint, or tempera paint
get out a glass bowl, glass baking pan, or stainless steel pan (I suggest glass or stainless steel, because these materials won't be permanently stained by the colouring/paint)
pour a small amount of water into the bowl and add a few drops of food colouring, or mix in an equal amount of poster paint
cut off as much string/twine as you think you will need for wrapping the gift(s) and lay it in the bowl
leave it in the bowl for about 20 minutes
meanwhile lay out several layers of newspaper next to the bowl, ready to receive the wet string/twine
look around for a good drying space; I suggest the top of your refrigerator &emdash the warmth rising from the back of the fridge will help dry it out more quickly, and it will not be under food
take the string/twine out of the dyeing bowl and lay it on the newspaper
transfer the newspaper to your drying space and leave for 24 - 48 hours (i.e. until the string/twine is completely dry to the touch)
use the dried, coloured string/twine to tie around your gift(s)

How to Wrap a Gift

Not good at wrapping? Here are a couple of links that will help you out — I particularly recommend the video link. However, remember that newspaper is much flimsier than wrapping paper. I suggest that you use two sheets of newspaper — this will just about equal the weight of one sheet of wrapping paper. Also remember to lay out the newspaper so that the desired wording/picture(s) is on the bottom-most sheet of newspaper, and facing downwards (i.e. facing the table surface).

Here are those links:

How to Wrap a Christmas Present, a video from Expert Village Videos

How to Wrap a Present, written instructions, from wikiHow

Disclaimer: while these hints are the result of years of experience and/or lots of research, in the end they are just my personal opinion. If you try something I suggest and it doesn't work, please don't sue me — I guarantee nothing. Best of luck!