Have you procrastinated taking down the Christmas decorations? Ignored the piles of stuff in the living room, accidentally missed trash day because the holiday schedule was weird? Yeah, me too. I love Christmas, but taking everything down and putting it away afterwards, well, kind of a downer, isn't it? So, now that the craziness of the Holidays is over, are you looking at all the decorations you have to take down, sighing and
wishing you had a magic decorating/clean up elf? I do it every year.
So wait! Stop! Before you clean up your Christmas detritus, take a good look at your trash! Yes, I'm serious. Instead of lugging bags of garbage to the curb or the dump, see what's in that bag that you can re-use and keep out of the landfill. It will decrease your trash haul for years to come. Really, there's more than you think that you can do to have a beautiful Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa (insert holiday of choice here) and take easy steps to lower your carbon footprint at the same time! Do not, under any circumstances, throw out those old Christmas cards!
Take a moment and pat yourself on the back for waiting until you read this before you clean it all up. It's not procrastinating if it's good for the environment, right? That's my take on it and I'm not budging, so congratulations and welcome to creating beautiful gifts while being environmentally responsible!
By the way, if you do actually have a magic decorating elf (which I continue to believe exist somewhere in spite of all logic and previous experience to the contrary) or you are one of those amazingly organized folks who had all decorations down, put away and everything else in the house perfect by the end of the day January 1, read no further. I have nothing for you, so just go away. Seriously. If you have a magic elf I'm jealous 'cuz I really want one. If you're the horribly organized type you're making me feel inadequate and I don't like it, so go organize your sock drawer or something.
Presents! Who doesn't love to get presents, right? Whether it's for ___ (again, insert holiday of choice!) or no reason at all, we all love 'em and the prettier the better. Think back to when you were a little kid if you don't believe me. No matter what the occasion, it was so much more exciting to unwrap a beautiful package than for someone to just hand something to you, right? It's part of the magic. A part, unfortunately, that can be really bad for the environment (anyone ever cleaned up after Christmas without at least one great big bag stuffed with paper, tape and packaging? Didn't think so.). Not only is there the trash leftover after the event, but every time we buy new wrapping paper, boxes, bows or whatever, we are increasing the chemicals and energy required to produce and ship these items. No, I will probably not be getting Christmas cards from the manufacturers of these items.
Obviously, one of the easiest things to do is recycle the paper - if it's the right kind that is. My Depression Era relatives used to save used wrapping paper as well. I've done it on occasion, but it's hard to keep previously used wrapping paper looking good unless it's a big enough piece to roll around another paper roll. I don't do it often.
You can also make your own wrapping paper from recycled and recyclable paper - you can buy rolls of brown paper for under $10 that last forever, are totally recyclable and can be decorated any way the inclination takes you. I have also wrapped gifts in fabric that gets re-used over and over again. The gifts look beautiful and it can be used for anything you want afterwards and re-used year after year. Wrapping in fabric is traditional in Japan (rarely for Christmas gifts, obviously!), which is just kind of a cool piece of gifting trivia!
I am admittedly somewhat obsessed with recycling, re-using and keeping things out of landfills (at least my family thinks so), but a saint or an expert, not hardly. Still, I thought I'd share some of the little (and EASY) things we do in our house to keep the trash load lower in case anyone is interested. If you have other suggestions or things you do, please share - I'm always looking for new ways to recycle and re-use!
The main thing we do in our home which is super simple is to re-use stuff. We re-use the same boxes from year to year. Now, obviously this requires some storage space. If you're living in a tiny studio apartment this is more of a challenge and you might be limited to the kind of box that folds flat so you can keep them under the bed, or under a couch or behind a dresser.
I invested some years ago in quite a few beautiful, sparkly boxes which make wrapping a snap! There are others that over the years I have permanently covered with pictures from magazines, newspapers or fabric. It's a small time investment but then the boxes last for years. Our family has been re-using the same boxes for Christmas and birthdays for about fifteen years now and it's great. We pull the empties out and put them under the tree when we start to decorate for Christmas, then as needed people grab the empties, fill, decorate and tag them and they go back under the tree. It always looks festive, which I love.
Don't have room to save boxes year to year? Be creative and re-use/recycle in another way. Start to save boxes you get from everyday household activities for a few weeks before the holidays or whatever event you need a gift box for - you would be amazed at how quickly cereal boxes, tea boxes, toothpaste boxes and the like add up. Unconventional, yes, but they work! Cover them with recyclable paper or turn them into permanent gift boxes by gluing on fabric or paper and who will know?
The next "re-use" item in our house also requires some storage space. Behold, the bow bins. Yep, we save every single bow, even the short useless pieces (Why? Hang on, I'll get there in a minute!). Occasionally we get new bows added to the stash when gifts come from outside the family, but mostly we just re-use, re-use, re-use.If you don't save actual bows and just use ribbon you can fold up, it will easily fit in baggies that are easier to store.
Now, to my favorite recycling for Christmas project, gift tags! All right, making your own gift tags might not actually save the planet, but every little step we take helps. This is where all those Christmas cards you never know what to do with come into play. Some of them are so beautiful I used to hate to throw them away or throw them in the recycling bin. So about eight or nine years ago I had an epiphany (yes, some people see angels, I have epiphanies about recycling). So we don't throw them out, we do recycle them into beautiful and unique gift tags and now the Christmas cards live forever! Super simple, super easy.
After Christmas I gather up all the cards and make sure I have the addresses I need (not that I ever use them, although I mean to, I promise. Yes, good intentions and all that.), I take them apart, putting the "writing on" part into the recycling bin. The pictures, I throw into a plastic ziploc baggie. I don't do anything with them until next year at that point, but I'm going to skip ahead (or back as may be). Here's what I do:
So you end up with a really cute gift tag, you can write whatever you want on the blank side. Attach it to your package and, ta-da!
This is why I keep all the ribbon scraps - they are perfect for attaching the gift tags to the packages and bows.
So there you have it, the low down on beautiful gift wrapping that is totally environmentally responsible! Unless you choose to store un-collapsible boxes and whole bows in bins like we do, none of this really takes up a lot of space. So go nuts, be creative, save the earth while wrapping incredibly gorgeous packages!
Thanks so much for reading! If you haven't, please check out my Etsy store for vintage clothing, vintage jewelry and vintage accessories - yet another way to re-use, recycle and re-purpose while looking fab. At my store you will also find some fashion originals and the odd costume item! I hope to see you there soon!
www.VintageLifeandDesign.etsy.com
For Vintage home and decor items as well as vintage inspired home and decor made from reclaimed and up-cycled materials, please visit my other Etsy shop too!
www.VLDDecorandHome.etsy.com
Please feel free to contact me with questions, comments and if there is anything you would like me to explain or write about, please let me know! Thanks so much for reading my blog!
Email: shelleysvintagelife@yahoo.com
Like us on Facebook: Vintage Life & Design
Follow us on Pinterest: shelleysvintage
Follow us on Twitter: shelleysvintagelife
 |
| When I picture my magic decorating/clean-up elf it always looks suspiciously like Hermie the Misfit Elf from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Yes, I watched many, many animated Christmas specials a lot as a small child, which may or may not have anything to do with my elf fixation. They are real, ok? We just can't see them! I believe! |
So wait! Stop! Before you clean up your Christmas detritus, take a good look at your trash! Yes, I'm serious. Instead of lugging bags of garbage to the curb or the dump, see what's in that bag that you can re-use and keep out of the landfill. It will decrease your trash haul for years to come. Really, there's more than you think that you can do to have a beautiful Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa (insert holiday of choice here) and take easy steps to lower your carbon footprint at the same time! Do not, under any circumstances, throw out those old Christmas cards!
Take a moment and pat yourself on the back for waiting until you read this before you clean it all up. It's not procrastinating if it's good for the environment, right? That's my take on it and I'm not budging, so congratulations and welcome to creating beautiful gifts while being environmentally responsible!
By the way, if you do actually have a magic decorating elf (which I continue to believe exist somewhere in spite of all logic and previous experience to the contrary) or you are one of those amazingly organized folks who had all decorations down, put away and everything else in the house perfect by the end of the day January 1, read no further. I have nothing for you, so just go away. Seriously. If you have a magic elf I'm jealous 'cuz I really want one. If you're the horribly organized type you're making me feel inadequate and I don't like it, so go organize your sock drawer or something.
 |
| Presents! Yeah! |
Presents! Who doesn't love to get presents, right? Whether it's for ___ (again, insert holiday of choice!) or no reason at all, we all love 'em and the prettier the better. Think back to when you were a little kid if you don't believe me. No matter what the occasion, it was so much more exciting to unwrap a beautiful package than for someone to just hand something to you, right? It's part of the magic. A part, unfortunately, that can be really bad for the environment (anyone ever cleaned up after Christmas without at least one great big bag stuffed with paper, tape and packaging? Didn't think so.). Not only is there the trash leftover after the event, but every time we buy new wrapping paper, boxes, bows or whatever, we are increasing the chemicals and energy required to produce and ship these items. No, I will probably not be getting Christmas cards from the manufacturers of these items.
Obviously, one of the easiest things to do is recycle the paper - if it's the right kind that is. My Depression Era relatives used to save used wrapping paper as well. I've done it on occasion, but it's hard to keep previously used wrapping paper looking good unless it's a big enough piece to roll around another paper roll. I don't do it often.
You can also make your own wrapping paper from recycled and recyclable paper - you can buy rolls of brown paper for under $10 that last forever, are totally recyclable and can be decorated any way the inclination takes you. I have also wrapped gifts in fabric that gets re-used over and over again. The gifts look beautiful and it can be used for anything you want afterwards and re-used year after year. Wrapping in fabric is traditional in Japan (rarely for Christmas gifts, obviously!), which is just kind of a cool piece of gifting trivia!
 |
| Fabric Wrapped Gifts |
I am admittedly somewhat obsessed with recycling, re-using and keeping things out of landfills (at least my family thinks so), but a saint or an expert, not hardly. Still, I thought I'd share some of the little (and EASY) things we do in our house to keep the trash load lower in case anyone is interested. If you have other suggestions or things you do, please share - I'm always looking for new ways to recycle and re-use!
The main thing we do in our home which is super simple is to re-use stuff. We re-use the same boxes from year to year. Now, obviously this requires some storage space. If you're living in a tiny studio apartment this is more of a challenge and you might be limited to the kind of box that folds flat so you can keep them under the bed, or under a couch or behind a dresser.
I invested some years ago in quite a few beautiful, sparkly boxes which make wrapping a snap! There are others that over the years I have permanently covered with pictures from magazines, newspapers or fabric. It's a small time investment but then the boxes last for years. Our family has been re-using the same boxes for Christmas and birthdays for about fifteen years now and it's great. We pull the empties out and put them under the tree when we start to decorate for Christmas, then as needed people grab the empties, fill, decorate and tag them and they go back under the tree. It always looks festive, which I love.
 |
| Just a few of the boxes we re-use in the Walker house every year. I took this photo after Christmas, so they aren't as pretty as they were! After Christmas is over, I throw them all in a giant garbage bag (which has also been re-used for years) and they live on top of the Christmas Decoration bins the rest of the year, except when the odd box gets pulled out for birthday presents or whatnot. These boxes are a tried and true part of our Christmas ritual! |
Don't have room to save boxes year to year? Be creative and re-use/recycle in another way. Start to save boxes you get from everyday household activities for a few weeks before the holidays or whatever event you need a gift box for - you would be amazed at how quickly cereal boxes, tea boxes, toothpaste boxes and the like add up. Unconventional, yes, but they work! Cover them with recyclable paper or turn them into permanent gift boxes by gluing on fabric or paper and who will know?
The next "re-use" item in our house also requires some storage space. Behold, the bow bins. Yep, we save every single bow, even the short useless pieces (Why? Hang on, I'll get there in a minute!). Occasionally we get new bows added to the stash when gifts come from outside the family, but mostly we just re-use, re-use, re-use.If you don't save actual bows and just use ribbon you can fold up, it will easily fit in baggies that are easier to store.
.JPG) |
| Some of these bows date back to our wedding - more years ago than I care to share! They come from our kids birthday parties, gifts from other family members, wherever. Sniff, sniff, family traditions! It is kind of fun and creative to piece together new bows using the remnants of old ones. For us it's a trip down memory lane, kind of like when we pull out the ornaments to decorate the tree. "Oh yeah, I remember when I made that bow for the ??? I got for ??? the year we (got ipods, the pool table, went to SC, went to Phoenix, Nevada, CA, you get the idea)!" |
Now, to my favorite recycling for Christmas project, gift tags! All right, making your own gift tags might not actually save the planet, but every little step we take helps. This is where all those Christmas cards you never know what to do with come into play. Some of them are so beautiful I used to hate to throw them away or throw them in the recycling bin. So about eight or nine years ago I had an epiphany (yes, some people see angels, I have epiphanies about recycling). So we don't throw them out, we do recycle them into beautiful and unique gift tags and now the Christmas cards live forever! Super simple, super easy.
After Christmas I gather up all the cards and make sure I have the addresses I need (not that I ever use them, although I mean to, I promise. Yes, good intentions and all that.), I take them apart, putting the "writing on" part into the recycling bin. The pictures, I throw into a plastic ziploc baggie. I don't do anything with them until next year at that point, but I'm going to skip ahead (or back as may be). Here's what I do:
.JPG) | ||
| Ziploc baggies full of cards & gift tags in waiting. The bag on the left has whole card fronts and blank cut-outs, the bag on the right has previously used tags. Yes, we save the tags too and re-use them when appropriate. Also, the fronts of Christmas cards and any cards actually, make great post-cards. |
 |
| Step 1, a cool card, back removed & in the recycling bin. |
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| Step 2: Scissors, hole punch, ribbon. |
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| Step 3: Cut the card into desired shapes, pictures. |
 |
| Step 4: Use a hole punch in a corner or along the edge. |
 |
| Step 5: Using ribbon scraps, thread your ribbon through. |
Gift tags from Christmas or (insert Holiday of Choice) make far cuter gift tags than anything you can buy en mass. No, they aren't quite as easy as the ones already cut out and printed, but it really doesn't take that much more effort to convert your old cards to gift tags and they are so much better!
This is why I keep all the ribbon scraps - they are perfect for attaching the gift tags to the packages and bows.
 |
| This is the ziploc baggie full of ribbon odds & ends! |
So there you have it, the low down on beautiful gift wrapping that is totally environmentally responsible! Unless you choose to store un-collapsible boxes and whole bows in bins like we do, none of this really takes up a lot of space. So go nuts, be creative, save the earth while wrapping incredibly gorgeous packages!
 | |
| One of the old sparkly boxes, recycled ribbon and a tag made from an old Christmas card! |
Thanks so much for reading! If you haven't, please check out my Etsy store for vintage clothing, vintage jewelry and vintage accessories - yet another way to re-use, recycle and re-purpose while looking fab. At my store you will also find some fashion originals and the odd costume item! I hope to see you there soon!
www.VintageLifeandDesign.etsy.com
For Vintage home and decor items as well as vintage inspired home and decor made from reclaimed and up-cycled materials, please visit my other Etsy shop too!
www.VLDDecorandHome.etsy.com
Please feel free to contact me with questions, comments and if there is anything you would like me to explain or write about, please let me know! Thanks so much for reading my blog!
Email: shelleysvintagelife@yahoo.com
Like us on Facebook: Vintage Life & Design
Follow us on Pinterest: shelleysvintage
Follow us on Twitter: shelleysvintagelife
