Be Resourceful - A New Way to Re-gift

How do you embrace the holiday season of shopping for everything shiny and new while maintaining your green and reuse efforts? Give all the special people in your life the perfect present, beautifully wrapped, without sacrificing the Eco-friendly lifestyle you strive for all year long. Here are a few tips and ideas to keep you on the right track during the holidays and if you still need an extra incentive during this hectic month, chances are if you aren't wasting then you must be saving - time and money!

First off, when you are shopping for all of the people on your list start by getting something that is actually useful for the person you are giving it to. Buying just anything for the sake of having a gift to wrap up and put under the tree (or where ever), is where wastefulness begins. That person, I'm sure, will appreciate the thought, but can't you communicate the same thing through a nice card and maybe something home-made, like out of the ordinary healthy treats for example (which I'm sure is an area we can help you with). The fact of the matter is, if you aren't positive that the person you are buying for will absolutely love and use what you are giving them, it will most likely end up in a give away or trash pile come spring.

Probably the best and easiest way to save in the whole gift exchanging tradition is to be creative with your wrapping. I am not one to skimp on the presentation and I have found my more unconventional take on gift wrap to be even more special and hardly compromising. Just as I save shopping bags to be reused as necessary, I also save pretty, high quality paper, tissue, ribbon and boxes from other gift-giving occasions throughout the year. I keep a small basket to collect all of these found objects to be reconstructed in ways to be used to wrap future gifts. This year I am wrapping my Christmas gifts in a replica antique map that I was able to snag a few copies of for free from a museum I visited. I plan to embellish the bows with an ornament (either an old one I already have or one I would plan to give them anyway) and use cut outs from Christmas cards as the tags. Last month, I wrapped a birthday gift for my sister in the paper bag it came in, used floral pins from an arrangement I got to give it new life and a little reused satin ribbon for the finishing touch and the first thing she said when I gave it to her was, "I love this paper!"...case in point. Wallpaper samples do great double duty, too. If you don't have a stash of paper yet, that's ok. Use the gifts you get this holiday to jump start your collection.