I have received gifts from my father-in-law wrapped in the Financial Times. Its a pink newspaper.
I have used plain printer paper, and fancied it up with stickers or ribbons.
I have wrapped gifts in comic book pages before too.
Tin foil would be a good one as it's shinny as well. You could even get away with little or no tape..
I recently received a birthday present that had been "wrapped" with post-it notes. Probably doesn't sound too great, but each note had its own message ranging from "Happy Birthday! " to an inside joke.
I actually saved the box, I liked it so much. Probably not something you'll want to do for more formal occasions, but works great as a casual, personalized gift :).
Tea Towels - especially useful if the gift is for use in the kitchen and the tea-towel can also be used as well (an extra gift).
Artwork - if you have young children you can recycle and reuse their artwork as gift wrapping.
Coloring book pages, paper bags, material for making clothes and probably a few other things. I think it is kind of cool to get a gift wrapped in something you don't expect.
For wedding, baby, or bridal shower gifts, I use tulle and tie with a pretty ribbon. I have also used fabric for odd-shaped gifts.
When i'm in a pinch i'll use newspaper or magazine pages.
If the gift is small use aluminum foil and put a pretty ribbon on it.
Using the Sunday's comic paper is colorful and with a red shiny bow should be festive for the holiday season.
Sometimes when I am wrapping a gift for a special someone, I only use used paper or plastics, and I wrap it many times like 5x and with tape on it so she'll be surprised what's really inside =).
You can do it to, use anything you have in your place, or anything that is present and use it as a gift wrapper to add a little surprise.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.