Eco Tip From Green Mama

I have already started shopping for next Christmas, which seems a little crazy when Im walking around in my flip-flops and tank tops in 100 degree weather, but if I can save on a few gifts now, it saves me from stressing about money when Christmas rolls around.  And maybe this year I won’t have to max out my credit card in a last minute rush to get a few last things!  But this thinking brought me around to wrapping paper and when I read this bit from Green Mama, it really made me think:

“Adorable as it might be, wrapping paper (and those cute little gift bags too) are phenomenally unnecessary.  Most of these papers are filled with toxic ink and never see the inside of a recycling bin.  They can even contain lead, metal-based foils or chlorine…Here are a few paperless options.  First consider buying kid-friendly pillowcases.  You can place gifts in pillowcases, tie a reusable ribbon around the top (especially for girls, they can later use them on their hair) and you now have a paperless gift.  You can also give you friends a present “wrapped” in a canvas bag they can reuse at the grocery store or library.  Hostess gifts look lovely in handmade baskets…If you cannot fight the urge to wrap it, is there anything else lying around that you can pad the little present with?  My brother-in-law used to wrap our Christmas gifts in his physics homeowrk.  Used magazines or comics have a similar effect and you can recycle both when the unwrapping ends.  Old butcher block paper can become a creative wrap after your kids doodle and stamp it.  If your child has an easel, the used paper from that is a good size for a gift.  If none of these options fit your rhythm, at the very least, use gift wrap and boxes made from recycled paper.”

Green Mama is filled to the binding with great tips like this one and it has a lot of information that I never knew on America’s rediculous consumption habits and Fair Trade (I didn’t fully understand Fair Trade until I read this book).  If you would like to read for yourself, enter our contest for your own copy or pick one up from Amazon!  Here is my post on the Green Mama book! 

I save gift bags and reuse them.  In fact, my mom and I have gotten into a habit of giving gift bags back and forth…not on purpose, but I’ve seen bags rotate around a couple times and she knows I save gift bags so I rarely get a gift in wrapping paper these days.   When I have a gift to give, I dig thru my bag collection and pull out one that matches the occasion and gift it in that…it not only saves me money, but it assures that those pretty bags aren’t just seen for a minute and then thrown in the trash.  Do you have a ‘green’ wrapping tip?  Post it here, we’d love to hear it!