3 Bag it
It can be hard to break out of a wrapping paper addiction (it's so pretty after all!) but it's incredibly wasteful, particularly if the paper you buy isn't made from recycled paper stock, or if your recipient doesn't recycle. A better solution is reusable shopping totes. When you present your present inside a canvas, nylon, polyester or recycled polypropylene bag, the presentation is part of the gift! Another idea: present your gift in an already decorated box so that it can be used for chic storage afterwards.
4 Reuse, repurpose
If you are going to use gift wrap, buying recycled gift wrap is better than buying virgin paper or foil wrap. However, reusing existing packaging supplies is better still. Think about it: even if you buy recycled paper, the paper still had to be collected, processed, printed, packed and then shipped to the store where you got it. A better option? Give new life to existing wrap or paper bags, whether it's one last hurrah before the recycling bin or an indefinite run in the recipient's house. Or, try some of the following ideas.
Wrap and packaging ideas we love
• Magazine pages: Oversize fashion mags and edgy music mags will pass muster with any teens on your list.
• Children's artwork: Finally a use for those watercolours and drawings that come home every couple days. Doting relatives will be thrilled!
• Reusable tins and canisters you have lying around, possibly from previous gifts you received.
• Flea market finds like Pyrex or Fire King food storage containers or tin countertop bins.
• Wooden wine crates. My local liquor store sells them for $5 each to raise money for charity; if yours doesn't, ask a clerk – they may keep them in the back.
5 Light up smartly
Deck your interior and exterior with LED lights. They're an incredible 90% more efficient than their incandescent counterparts. They also stay cool and are less of a fire hazard. Use a timer to limit your outdoor display to six hours. (No one's going to enjoy your lights at 3 a.m. anyways.) Indoors, turn tree lights off when nobody's in the room.
If your room lights aren't already on a dimmer switch, consider installing a few before the holidays so you can dim overhead lights while entertaining. That will save energy and allow you to enhance the ambience with candlelight from soy candles.
Have a very merry green Christmas.
Image courtesy of Pottery Barn.
Read more in Decorating & Design and Green Living
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