Hello and Welcome

Hello there! Welcome to our shiny new website. We’re excited to be up and running in our own space, and we’re also hoping to impart some of our new-found gift wrapping knowledge onto anyone that stumbles across this blog.

If this is the first you’ve heard of us, I’ll give you a brief rundown on why we started Scrunch in the first place.

Rewind to Christmas morning, 2021. It’s 10am. We’re in the post-present-unwrapping slump. The living room is strewn with shreds of glittery, gold wrapping paper, and the innards of whatever new toy the dog has already dismembered. Revived by a third round of tea and toast, we try to tidy the place up a bit before we move onto the Prosecco. We fill a bin bag with balled up gift wrap that, no matter how much we squash it down, springs back up and forces us to fill a second bag. It’s touch and go on whether we need a third. We’re only a family of four. How many bags do bigger families fill?!

And the questions don't stop there ­– What bin do we put the wrapping paper in? The recycling, surely? It’s just paper. Right?

No. It turns out that the glittery, foil-coated gift wrap that admittedly looked beautiful isn’t recyclable after all. Neither is the shiny curling ribbon, or the stick-on bows, or the reams of Sellotape used on the paper. Collectively, we realise that something needs to change.

With this weighing on our minds, fast forward a few months later and we’d had an idea. Newsprint wrapping paper. Mum (Julie) had only been looking at newspapers every day of her life for the last thirty-something years (she’s a production journalist). They’re recyclable, and the paper is FSC-certified. And using sheets of newspaper–such as the cartoon pages–as gift wrap wasn’t unheard of. But instead of depressing news stories, could we decorate the sheets with vibrant, eye-catching patterns? I (Eleanor) digitally drew several patterns, and we discovered that yes, this could work. And actually, newsprint makes for really great wrapping paper. It’s not too thick, it’s not too thin, it’s just right.

Enter, Scrunch Eco Wrap.

So here we are. We’re now nine months into our gift wrap journey and we’ve just launched our Spring Collection. We’ve got three new designs; vibrant spring florals, funky birthday candles, and cute potted plants. Some might say they’re pretty enough to not need any extra embellishments. But we love a ribbon here at Scrunch, and we love it even more if you’re reusing it from a gift you received yourself. Bonus points if it’s eco ribbon, too.

We’ll be back here soon to grace you with more information about eco-friendly gift wrapping, tips and tricks to up your wrapping game, and of course, news about product launches.

Happy wrapping!

Eleanor & Julie