An Eco-Friendly Christmas!

Well folks, it's Christmastime again. I know, I know... it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but since I have heard an endless stream of Christmas music already, it has inspired me to write today's post; eco-friendly alternatives to wrapping paper.
Each year, we go through 80,000 tonnes of wrapping paper at Christmas; that's an equivalent to about 50,000 trees! Not to mention the lead and other harmful chemicals that are found in most wrapping papers, which all end up in our landfills.
But, there are many ways of wrapping those gifts without all of the harmful side effects. Firstly, there is wrapping paper on the market that is 100% recycled and bio-degradable, so if you just have to go out and buy rolls of wrapping paper, try to opt for the green option.
There are so many other ways to wrap gifts, the possibilities are endless, just be creative! One of my favorite ways is to decorate your paper with children's artwork. You can wrap your gift with brown paper (get bags from the grocery store) and have the kids decorate the paper with colors, paint, stickers, or anything else fun. This is great for family members and friends, and gives the kids a chance to participate in the gift-giving as well.
Also, you can use things like newspaper (especially the comic section), outdated maps, or magazine paper for a fun and eccentric look.
Give gifts in jars! You can make cookie mix or hot chocolate mix and layer it in a jar, tie with a ribbon and give as is. The best part is that they can reuse the jar it came in!
I read somewhere that newspaper companies usually have roll ends that they send off for recycling. It's leftover newspaper that hasn't been printed on, and the roll ends usually have quite a bit still left on them. You can go to your local newspaper company and ask for their roll ends, wrap as is, or decorate it.
You can use fabric scraps or old Christmas cards.
Now, once you have figured out how you are going to wrap your gifts, you'll need a topper. Forget the traditional bows and get creative! Instead of ribbon, tie hemp around the gift. You can make the bow another gift! Tie on a new set of measuring spoons, a small toy, or anything else you might want to gift. You can top your gift with origami or dried flowers (or fresh ones!).
My favorite idea for a bow is with magazine paper. You can make an adorable bow using magazine paper and metal brads. Here is a tutorial for this project:
Materials
Magazine paper (the more color the better!)
metal brads
scissors
double-sided tape
hole-punch


1. Firstly, you will need to tear out a page from a magazine and cut it lengthwise into 1" strips. You will need 8 for each bow.
2. Now, take one of the strips and bring the ends to the middle of the strip, so you have two loops. With the ends overlapped, punch a hole through all (right in the middle)
3. Place the metal brad in through the holes and repeat with each strip of paper.
4. When you have all 8 of the strips looped over and arranged on the brad, bend the prongs of the brad out to hold it all in place.
5. Place a small piece of tape on the bottom of the bow.
Now you have an awesome recycled bow! These are very easy to make and look great! No one will ever guess that you made it yourself:)


Christmas is the time of year that our planet suffers. Between all of the lights, the trees that are cut down, the excessive traveling and all of the trash pushed into landfills, surely there is some, small thing we can all do to help this situation.
That is all for today's post. Thanks for reading and always remember that it only takes a little effort to make a big difference!