Husbands, fathers and sons everywhere, rejoice! Your preferred gift-wrapping method isn't only acceptable, it's recommended.

For years the male of the species has suffered the sideways glances and disapproving "tsks" of their family members when they produced a holiday gift wrapped in newspaper, a shopping bag, or not wrapped at all. Well, thanks to the green movement society has finally caught up with these beleaguered brutes.

"Start with using less wasteful methods of wrapping your gifts," said Jen Boulden, co-founder of eco-tip website idealbite.com. "Many of my friends have their kids decorate a shopping bag and then wrap presents in it to give to loved ones. You simply turn a grocery bag inside out, cut along the seams and you’ve got a great canvas for your kids to doodle on."

If you don't have kids, or if you’re looking for something a little more elegant than hand-decorated shopping bags, there are plenty of other eco-friendly options available.

You can start with the scraps of last year's leftover and used wrapping paper that you have neatly tucked away in your garage alongside the holiday decorations. From there you can move on to the comics from the Sunday newspaper, or colorful photo spreads from your favorite glossy magazines.

Approached in this way, what you choose to wrap a present in can say as much about the recipient as the gift itself. Paste a couple of carefully selected images from the sports page on an old shoe box and you will have the perfect personalized gift box for your father or husband.

Still cringing at the thought of giving your grandmother a silk shawl wrapped in the front page of The Times? We’ve got you covered.

"If you want to get a little more formal, we suggest reusable wrapping like a wrap sack (http://wrapsacks.com/) or a tea towel. If you must wrap your gifts with paper, do look for a brand that is made from 100% recycled material," Boulden said.

"I love the funky designs they have at Fish Lips (http://www.fishlipspaperdesigns.com/).  By opting for the recycled version, you are also ensuring that you can then recycle the paper again (a lot of traditional wrapping paper has adornments on it that make it harder to recycle.)"

Nice work gentlemen, now let’s talk about your choice of clothes…