Recycled Christmas, could it work???

Lillibet_2

sandieb wrote:

Has anyone tried Amy Dacycyzn's idea in her book "The Tightwad Gazette" of sending Christmas postcards? She re-used the front of received Christmas cards to send as postcards. The idea quite appeals to me.

I did this when I was a student. At the time I thought the idea was unique to me! Everyone thought they were a new fashion Xmas card, except people who I accidently gave back their old cards to! (if doing this, don't cut the fronts off & save in January, wait until you're writing the cards then cut the front off & check who sent it to avoid my mistake) Some I posted as a post card type, others I handed out either in or out of envelopes depending on what I could get away with;) They look better if you cut them with a guillotine (sp?) rather than scissors.

Nowdays we print our own personal Xmas cards with a photo of our son on, not nearly as green but we do use recycled paper & envelopes for them.

Lillibet_2

*X-post with Old style baord*

In the spirit of the recycled Christmas idea, I have inherited a set of 5 recycled glass octagonal storage jars without lids. I have no need of them & have the idea of filling them with something for Xmas pressies. I have decided to put soapnuts in 2 of them for family members who need an eco-push. Any ideas on what I can use the other 3 for?

We only exchange gifts with family/friends we are close to & try to make them useful or worthwhile, not "token gestures".

Any ideas appreciated & will be thanked.

Cheers;)

Marsie

tiptoes wrote:

BOOMDOCKER this site do a few diffrent tpyes and also tumblers
https://www.greenglass.co.uk

Feel a Christmas order coming on ...

M.

savvy

Lillibet wrote:

*X-post with Old style baord*

In the spirit of the recycled Christmas idea, I have inherited a set of 5 recycled glass octagonal storage jars without lids. I have no need of them & have the idea of filling them with something for Xmas pressies. I have decided to put soapnuts in 2 of them for family members who need an eco-push. Any ideas on what I can use the other 3 for?

We only exchange gifts with family/friends we are close to & try to make them useful or worthwhile, not "token gestures".

Any ideas appreciated & will be thanked.

Cheers;)

Well homemade sweets come to mind, when I was younger I used to make peppermint creams (dead easy) and cover some in dark chocolate.
You could personalise them by making them into relevant shapes for the recipients, or into their initials or relevant pet shapes etc etc

Christmas cookies come to mind too, or specific cookies for anybody with special dietry probs.......I'd love some wheat free cookies if you're making any! ;):D

You can cover the top with cling film and add a ribbon or something to jazz it up.

Sallys_Savings

I've just received lots of corks from wine bottles off of my local freecycle

I have made cork boards for a couple of friends christmas pressies.

Really easy to do

....just glue all the corks together and use some garden twine or wire to hang from.

You can adapt the finishing touch depending on the person you are making it for.

I have made four different sorts...

1. Folk art/primitive style.....finishing twine off with a rusty metal star and tied with raffia and popped on a couple of dried oranges and rosehips.

2. Made a couple of strips from pretty floral fabrics and tied bows on the end of the twine.

3. Painted pale pink paint over the corks and made the hanger from pink ribbon and tied pink bows on the end.

4. Gardening...glued old seed packets around the edge and sealed with a clear varnish. This is for my father to put in his shed.

I'm sure you can think of lots of other ideas with things laying around the house.

OOPS ..don't forget to enclose a small pack of drawing pins (I brought a huge pack from an office suppliers and split them up into little bags)

savvy

Sallys_Savings wrote:

I've just received lots of corks from wine bottles off of my local freecycle

I have made cork boards for a couple of friends christmas pressies.

Really easy to do

....just glue all the corks together and use some garden twine or wire to hang from.

You can adapt the finishing touch depending on the person you are making it for.

I have made four different sorts...

1. Folk art/primitive style.....finishing twine off with a rusty metal star and tied with raffia and popped on a couple of dried oranges and rosehips.

2. Made a couple of strips from pretty floral fabrics and tied bows on the end of the twine.

3. Painted pale pink paint over the corks and made the hanger from pink ribbon and tied pink bows on the end.

4. Gardening...glued old seed packets around the edge and sealed with a clear varnish. This is for my father to put in his shed.

I'm sure you can think of lots of other ideas with things laying around the house.

OOPS ..don't forget to enclose a small pack of drawing pins (I brought a huge pack from an office suppliers and split them up into little bags)

I'm trying to picture this.............................they sound great, but have you really been sat there sticking little corks to each other??

Have you got any pics of them??

Annando

Hi,

I have a small suggestion to make. This might have come up in other years around Xmas time...
Xmas is coming and people are going to be buying loads of wrapping paper that can't be recycled because it has a low paper content and too much plastic and foil in it, so all that wrapping paper is going to end up in landfills which isn't good for the environment and ultimately not good for our pockets.

Could I suggest that you save money by wrapping presents in brown paper (much cheaper than wrapping paper) and string instead of the usual expensive stuff? The brown paper can be personalised with colours and drawings, or pine cones, holly and mistletoe can be attached to the string.

This would not only save money but it would also be good for the environment.

Cheers!

Anne

Ken-Dodds-Hairy-Knodule

Even greener would to not wrap things at all. Just give people their gift.

And the greenest of all would be an un-consumerist xmas where you give no gifts and ask to not be given any. Nobody gets exploited then ;>

oops_a_daisy

Good thread Anne - hope there will be a few good tips

My DD and I used to make our own xmas wrapping paper with brown paper and we used to draw snowflakes, snowmen and xmas trees on it or use rubber stamps with christmassy pictures on.

We now also make our xmas cards by recycling cards from last year - we cut out the pictures and stick them to a new card and re send them.

May I be the first to wish you a happy christmas :xmassmile

urbanfrit

Xmas is such so ungreen it always infuriates me.
Just look down the street on Boxing Day and see brimming wheely bins with boxes piled on top of them.
Down my street it seems to be a competition to see how many big boxes from the latest Chinese made plastic toy or electronic gizmo they can display.
There also seems to be a need to buy new lights etc. every year now.
Don't people have a box in the loft full of Xmas decorations these days?
Xmas is the same every year.Why do people have to try to make it better by conspicuous consumption?

Happy Xmas everyone! :xmastree: :xmassign: :santa2: :snow_laug :xmassmile :rudolf: _party_