Christmas and the Mocha Frugalista

I love Christmas!  I always have and always will.  However, I hate the materal-aspect of Christmas and the fact that each parent believes they must outdo the next.  This year because of poor grades and a desire to get back to the basics I asked the children which ONE thing they wanted the most and that was their Christmas gift among other things that I wanted to get them (mostly educational).

With all of these gifts the question came to wrapping paper.  The thought actually sickens me of how much the wrapping paper is. I pride myself on being so frugal with everything but wrapping paper prices are astronomical!

Then I had an idea!  Newspaper!  My hubby is constantly getting Sunday's paper and never throwing it out (subject matter for another post but I digress).

Here are some inspiration pictures that I have found. I am thinking that I may use stamps to make them a bit more special and I have tons of ribbon left over from other projects that I will be using for the bows. 

Source

Killer Virgo Blog

This is my favorite and probably the most like what I will be doing for my kiddie's gifts.  It is actually a page from a magazine, but it is exactly what I am going for on some of the gifts.  Since we have kids, I do need the bright and obnoxious as well.

Wandering Mist

What creative ideas have you come up with for wrapping gifts?