Alternative gift wrapping

A couple years ago my oldest daughter and I began making gift wrap with the idea of eliminating some of the extra 25% of waste we as a country create from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day. There are lots of ways you can do this from making gift bags to upcycling and using what you already have around the house. See the list below for ways to green up your holiday season.

• Make fabric gift bags

• Re-usable bags from the co-op for food gifting

• Mason jars with a ribbon…write your message in permanent market on the lid

• Use the comics from the newspaper

• Old feed/seed bags make quaint wrap for the gardener in your life

• Wrap a pair of mittens/gloves in a scarf

If you set your intention to making this shift, don't think you have to run out and purchase a case of Mason Jars. Be a true junk lover and stop in at your local Good Will when you think of it. You will find lots of cool baskets, jars, and other containers looking for a new home that would make a great fit for holding a gift. Really all a basket or old jar needs to look personal and fun is a little color from a ribbon or raffia of some sort.

Breeze through garage sales during the summer to find how someone else's trash can become your treasure! There are lots of goodies hanging around that people don't want anymore, including unused gift bags from specialty stores.

Skeins of yarn, rolls of ribbon, bolts of fabric and boxes of baskets are among my favorite finds...giving us loads of fun and endless ways to wrap our gift giving in the year to come.
We are doing a bit of everything from the list above. How about you?