daily_granola: Choose Reusable Packaging for the Holidays

orangeclouds115 (

orangeclouds115) wrote in

daily_granola,
@ 2005-11-11 00:18:00

Choose Reusable Packaging for the Holidays
I know we're not at Thanksgiving yet, but it's best to post these ideas BEFORE people go out and do their shopping.

Choose Reusable Packaging for the Holidays

Instead of wrapping gifts for Christmas (in which case the paper is thrown out), how about some of the following ideas?

Wrap gifts in newspaper or magazine pages
Choose a reusable decorative bag for gift wrapping (here are some environmentally friendly ones)
Give small gifts that you can tuck into cards (For example, I'm giving my dad a membership to the ACLU. Another idea is a gift certificate).

Also - I want to show you a new site I found. Remember a while ago I posted American Forests (where you can give the gift of planting trees)? I found a UK site that does the same thing - Carbon Neutral. You may wish to check it out even if you're not a UK resident because they have a variety of carbon neutral calculators, such as one for plane flights, one for driving, and one for weddings.

(Post a new comment)

didotwite
2005-11-11 06:40 am UTC (link)

why is the paper thrown out? unless i'm supporting someone's montessori preschool or sumpin', I don't buy paper. i go home for the holidays, open up the closet, find the paper bags filled with folded paper from last year, and ta-da. theoretically this would be ironed, but for presents?...noone cares. if there are tape marks, we stick a little tag (made from last year's holiday cards)

santa also uses this paper. mum always explained that parents send some in every year so he has enough for the whole world. if we got really freaky about it (peer pressure) we were able to rip one big present open, but usually the stocking presents took care of this early.

some big pieces of wrapping paper have been around at least 15 years (some from my grandparents still!), though they get cut down gradually if there are more medium-sized presents.

i'm totally not being holier-than-thou here. it's simple enough to make a pile of the not-too-ripped paper at the end of GIFT TIME, fold it as best you can into a brown paper bag, put it away along with decorations for next year. somehow the holidays wouldn't be the same if we used strange new paper all the time.

a friend of mine had a birthday a week or so ago. I found a piece of paper from something someone else had given me, wrapped her present, and totally got called on reusing the paper. was she mad? no, amused, and, the present was hers and new! the paper was mine to take home again, score!

(Reply to this)

nymphie
2005-11-11 07:03 am UTC (link)

My mom wraps gifts in old maps. She also told me to use my paper shreadder on torn/used giftwrapping paper to fill gift bags. This year I decided to make my own gift bags out of paper grocery bags. Whole Foods has neat little handles on them and I try not to get plastic bags because my cat chews plastic. Anyway, first I painted the bags and then I folded orgami designs and glued them to the sides. I figured the recievers would be more likley to reuse a bag that was hand made. One year I took apart the paper bags and painted them to make gift paper. But it tended to get torn and was harder to reuse.

(Reply to this)

	fjm 2005-11-11 08:20 am UTC (link)
	Use ribbon for the paper and then ribbon and paper are all reusable. (Reply to this)

anterastilis
2005-11-11 02:13 pm UTC (link)

This year at my house (well, my parents' house) everyone gets two gifts in one: the gift itself, and the gift bag it comes in. I'm making gift bags out of fabric and ribbons this year. The person that gets it is encouraged to keep it, and use it again next year!

My sister (who isn't really into natural living - or even cutting down on consumption) has a pet peeve about wrapping paper. So this year - I'm doing somehting about it!

(Reply to this) (Thread)

faerie_spark
2005-11-11 02:26 pm UTC (link)

What a great idea to make the gift bags from cloth and ribbon. These can also be used in the house, to keep various small items together, etc, if someone didn't want to give it away.

I generally don't wrap gifts. It's probably laziness, but it works for me. One tip: if you're going to use store-bought gift bags (something I like to do on occasion) don't write on the little tag that is often suspended from the handle. This is a sure-fire way to make sure the person getting the gift won't reuse the gift bag.

I've been at enough gift-opening activities to see that children are encouraged to rip open gifts and generally make a huge mess of things!

Tying the paper with ribbon is a good idea, except that usually the ribbon has to be cut, and then is virtually useless. Any ideas for a way around this?

We actually don't have a lot of gift giving to do this year, so we're okay. In fact, we do so little for the holidays that excess waste isn't going to be too much of a problem....now to reduce the excess waste we make on a daily basis.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

anterastilis
2005-11-11 02:59 pm UTC (link)

I was thinking about attaching the ribbons to the gift bags...and use them to cinch them shut?

I haven't put as much thought into this as I thought I had! I don't actually have any of my gifts done...I figure once I do, I'll make bags to fit them.

*lol* yeah, I have one neice who is now 5. She certainly tore into the gift wrap! Maybe I'll get her some actual gift wrap...the rest of my family can deal with fabric bags. :)

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	faerie_spark 2005-11-11 03:02 pm UTC (link)
	You can still make it fun for your niece without getting gift wrap. Wrap the gift in many layers of thigns that can be reused. Undoing layers is fun! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	geekjul 2005-11-11 02:53 pm UTC (link)
	I love the gift bags, we reuse those like crazy in my family. And the ribbons, too. Every year it's fun to see them again, a lot of them have developed sentimental value. (Reply to this)

	snmashley 2005-11-11 04:33 pm UTC (link)
	This also saves you money too. My mom usually uses those gift bags so I always keep and reuse them. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	orangeclouds115 2005-11-12 01:03 am UTC (link)
	LOL, yeah I'm a cheapskate. I have bought only a few of those bags ever because I am notorious for reusing every one that I get. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

gift bags

baalitlaura
2005-11-12 10:17 am UTC (link)

Every year my grandma makes a huge deal about keeping bags; gift bags, wine bottle bags, whatever, as long as they are sparkly and/or pretty. This has nothing to do with reducing waste, but more to do with her being "frugal." Well, for her birthday this year, I was creative and wrapped her gift in fabric and decorated it with fabric paint and stamps that say "Happy Birthday!" -- and of course I get teased relentlessly because I'm this weird tree hugger. Just a funny story, I am used to the teasing, but fabric works great. Another good idea is goofy old scarves from the goodwill. They usually have a big old bin full of them (you know, your nana probably wears them on her head). I will use baskets and wrap the scarf around it. Then they get a funky scarf AND the gift.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	jenyum 2005-11-11 09:25 pm UTC (link)
	I use my childrens' artwork for wrapping paper, when we give gifts. It's a way to reuse all that paper they go through and a way for them to get involved in giving the gift. The big paper you tear off a roll for an easel really works well for this. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	orangeclouds115 2005-11-12 01:04 am UTC (link)
	wow that's adorable, and a great idea! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	diffuse 2005-11-13 06:41 pm UTC (link)
	or you could do what i did one year. i had an old pair of corduroy pants that had a hole in them and that i didn't wear anymore. so i cut them up, fit them over a box that had a gift inside it, and stapled the various pieces together. voila, you have a gift wrapped in corduroy! (Reply to this)

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