This week’s green tips come from my good friend Heather at A Mama’s Blog, who just got a bloggy makeover and a new domain and is celebrating with a giveaway (more on that below). Heather’s tips are great suggestions for making gift wrap more usable and less wasteful.
- Wrap a bottle of wine in a dish towel, tied off with a ribbon at the top. Bonus: the recipient gets a dish towel that can be reused, instead of throwing a mylar bag away.
- Use a jump rope for the ribbon on an older child’s present. Bonus: they get to use the jump rope.
- Recycle birthday, Christmas cards, etc. as gift tags. Cut out the part you want to use (make sure there is no writing on the back), and then reuse these the next time you need a gift tag.
To celebrate the fact that she moved to her own domain, Heather is giving away one of her best-selling What Happens At Grandma’s, Stays At Grandma’s t-shirt from her store Little Pumpkin Sweet Pea Designs! Stop in for a chance to win and to check out A Mama’s Blog. She discusses everything from attachment parenting to the reality of c-sections, from household projects to life with her two sweet boys. :)
Have any green tips you’ve recently learned? Please email them to me and I may include your tip with a link to your site or blog in a future post. :)
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new best friend says:
[...] other day I took the kids to Target to get new socks and underwear. That waswww.justnotmartha.comGreen Tips of the Week 16 – Gift wrap ideas and a giveaway This week??s green tips come from my good friend Heather at A Mama??s Blog, who just got a bloggy [...]
March 15th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Half Pint Pixie says:
I like the dish cloth idea. We also do that with old Christmas cards.
There’s been a few babies in our families over the past year, so plenty of cute baby gifts were needed. Instead of wrapping paper, we wrapped the gifts in soft fleecey baby blankets tied up with a ribbon, so the wrapping is part of the present and perfect for winter! Summer babies get their gifts wrapped in a soft muslin cloth. And we are still reusing all the gift bags we received when littlepixie was born, they’re neverending!
March 15th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
wine » Blog Archive » Green Tip(s) of the Week #16 - Gift wrap ideas (and a giveaway) says:
[...] Read the rest of this great post here [...]
March 15th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Joy says:
My mom made cloth gift bags thirty-some years ago and we are still using them for birthdays and holidays. She picked out fun fabrics, sewed a ribbon for tying the gift into the seam and sometimes used iron-on letters to put our names on the front. Last Christmas I asked for my own set of customized gift bags to use with my family and we’re already making memories with them. Check out “The Gift Wrap that Keeps on Wrapping” at http://greenbabyguide.com for more ideas!
March 15th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
N. & J. says:
My fiance and I have decided to give up on gift wrapping entirely. When giving gifts to someone outside the family then we will consider some of the suggestions listed here but otherwise our family will simply have to close their eyes and then open the box. We are going to give our stockpile away on freecycle.
N.
http://badhuman.wordpress.com
March 15th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
PlanningQueen says:
My 4 year old loves to paint at preschool and brings large paintings home each week. I the occasional one, but the others I use to wrap children’s birthdays presents in.
I also wrote a post on Planning a Green Easter“, which was about some of the things that I am going to do to reduce our waste and carbon emissions over this holiday period.
March 16th, 2008 at 7:04 am
Ana says:
Another idea is to choose paper that is made in an eco-friendly way. At our toy store, koboldtoys.com , we use a wrapping paper that is made in Germany by Disegno, a company that makes a point of preserving the environment.
This company purchases their paper only from pulp suppliers who have wood from FSC or PEFC certified woods (a certificate awarded by an independent organization which guarantees sustainable and controlled forest cultivation.)
And, the paper design and color is one of the most beautiful I have seen in my life. To take a pic, go to http://www.disegno.de.
March 16th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Daisy says:
I’ve made gift tags from cards for years and we get complimented on it every time we use them. I love the wine and dishtowel idea! I’ll put that one to good use.
March 16th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
phyllis says:
great list! thanks…
March 16th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
mb says:
I have always been a fabric and silkish scarf freak, collection them from thrift stores, goodwill, etc. Since I don’t really sew or wear more than a couple scarves i love, i wrap gifts in the fabric and scarves. creates more space in my life and maybe someone will wear the scarf or make a little something with the fabric.
peace.
mb
March 18th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Ron Rivera says:
Recycle birthday, Christmas cards, etc. as gift tags. Cut out the part you want to use (make sure there is no writing on the back), and then reuse these the next time you need a gift tag.
July 31st, 2008 at 1:00 am
Michel says:
This is a cool post about coupons.
i need this info for my site.
October 11th, 2008 at 1:27 am