Mumpreneur’s new eco wrap and tag venture celebrates secondhand gifting
Going full-on sustainable is the idea behind a brand-new giftwrap venture from busy mum Tammy Ryan, who’s combining loving the planet with making sure preloved toys and other items receive a new lease of life.
Having set up the Ice Cream And Jelly kids’ party blog and planning website after being made redundant while on maternity leave, former head of marketing Tammy realised that passing on secondhand gifts is both eco-friendly and great for the wallet, so has launched Preloved Presents wrap and gift tags to make it easier and more acceptable.
Tammy explained: “The wrapping paper and gift tag make it clear the gift is preloved and highlights the benefits of this, so no surprises, no awkward conversations and everyone feels good about the gift.
“The aim is to make gifting secondhand quality gifts more acceptable, so we can all do our bit to be kinder to the planet.
“At a time when we’re making an assertive effort to care for the planet and are carefully watching our pennies, shopping secondhand is understandably growing at an epic rate. So, why is gifting something preloved seemingly not the done thing?”
Her research highlighted that shopping secondhand is a global phenomenon, expected to grow 127% by 2026, according to Thredup.com, and Statista.com show the UK alone has over 3,800 stores specialising in selling preloved goods – during 2021, sales here saw a 27.2% growth in value.
The Preloved Presents range of recycled and recyclable wrap and seed-paper gift tags has been created in collaboration with PlanetWrapIt, which Tammy discovered when researching eco-friendly giftwrap options for a blog post.
The company was started by Rachael Brailsford and her partner Neil during lockdown as she’d been wrapping presents with recycled brown parcel paper and was fed up with a lack of plastic-free, eco-friendly options that were festive and fun for her young kids to open on Christmas Day.
The business now has an expanding range of recycled and recyclable kraft wrapping paper, paper tape and accessories plus plantable greeting cards, and last year planted over 700 trees as Rachael’s aim is to plant more than are needed for her products.
The two mums have really enjoyed working together, with the mutual respect and understanding of setting up a side hustle alongside the commitments of looking after their children.
Tammy added: “Gifting secondhand means caring for our planet, by preserving our natural resources, eliminating packaging and reducing what ends up in landfill. It also means less strain on your wallet, which couldn’t come at a better time.”
Top: Tammy Ryan is showing how secondhand gifts are great
