I thought I'd share one of my 'green' ideas. I recycle shopping bags as gift bags. I'm sure it's not a new idea, but I love some of the bags I get places and think it's a shame to just put them in the recycle bin. So, add some wrapping paper, mono adhesive, and off we go.
This one just has writing at the bottom, so I took a roll of $1 bin wrapping paper(last year at Target) and roughly measured a length. I folded the paper in half length wise, not quite making the sides meet and the long side to show. You can use a little adhesive to make the halves stick together. Then lay out the paper so your start will be on the short sides of the bag(not the front or back with writing). I then put adhesive on the front along the edges and where the top of the paper will be(using the paper laid out as a guide). Then carefully fold the paper over and adhere.
Do the same for the other sides, making sure to put adhesive along the crease lines on the sides to help the paper fold with the bag.
For the end, I folded the last edge over on itself, making sure to use adhesive to make it stick to itself and then again to make it stick to the rest of the paper.
Now, a perfectly generic gift bag. Just make sure to color in the name on the inside with marker. Or, if it's printed, use a piece of ribbon or scrap of paper to cover it up.
This one was printed across the middle. Used big scraps of a favorite paper from years ago.
The bag in the previous photo is the bottom left one. The beauty at the back is a Paper Source bag. Just LOVE that store. Their paper and paper ribbon to make it a fabulous gift bag. 
