Post-Christmas cleaning
Posted by angel on Dec 29, 2009 in words for the wise | 116 views
Christmas came, it went, it left a slew of wrapping and ribbons and bows and cards and boxes in it’s wake. What to do with all that stuff? Save it to wrap next year’s presents. Use it to decorate your scrapbook. Make recycled Christmas cards or birthday cards or Easter cards. Ever wanted to have a Christmas in July party, well now you’ve got all the decor you could possibly need.
Greeting Cards: My favorite thing to do with these is to cut off the front of the card and then cut out any preprinted greeting or image on the inside of the card. You can then keep these (or use them right now) to make new cards or use them as gift tags or embellishment on wrapping. You can make ornaments. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination and ability to search the internet.
http://www.allfreecrafts.com/christmas/card-ornaments.shtml
http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Recycled_Christmas_Crafts
Wrapping Paper: I love wrapping paper, so much of it is really beautiful and I love to make fancy looking packages to give to my friends and family. It seems so silly, though, for wrapping paper to be a single use item. The obvious choice for a lot of used wrapping is to recycle it, but so often, it has at least one more life left in it. Does it really matter if there is a small tear or a scratch or imperfection in the wrapping? Larger pieces of wrapping can easily be re-used to wrap smaller gifts. Or smaller pieces of wrapping can creatively be used to wrap something in a patchwork style. Wrapping can often be incorporated into decorating handmade cards or gift tags.
Boxes and Bags: This is probably the easiest category to reuse and reuse and reuse, almost indefinitely. Gift bags are a great idea, they are quick to use and most of the time are “damaged” not one single bit by its use. I have a box of gift bags that I go to whenever I have a present to give and can choose from what’s in there without ever having to go to the store or spend money. I hope that the gift recipients remember that the bag/box can be used when they are giving something in the future.
Ribbons and Bows: These are also very easy to reuse. A little bit of tape will affix a gently used bow to a new present and give it another chance at festive employment. Just think of all those gift accoutrements out there wanting to be useful and spread their festive nature far and wide.
An idea I came up with this year, a little too belatedly, is making a little tag that could be attached to a gift, separate from the to/From tag, that would say something like “This gift was wrapped with all recycled materials.” or “This gift has been dressed in vintage attire.” , etc. Just to draw people’s attention to the idea and hopefully to encourage them to follow in my footsteps by reusing as much of the wrapping, etc. as possible. I’m going to start doing that with all of the presents I give throughout the year.
