Being Creative in Making Less Waste

I can't believe it is just a few days until Christmas. My last several weeks have been busy, but calm.  No frantic trips to the mall.

Last weekend I helped 80 girl scouts (along with a small army of helpers) make 400 gifts.  Each made a waterless snow globe, an ornament, a winter scene art piece, a button & wire sculpture and a key chain.  The amazing thing is that the only thing we purchased to make it through this afternoon was the rings for the keychains, and a small amount of glue.  EVERYTHING else was from reCREATE.  We essentially made 400 gifts from other peoples waste!

If you are looking for gifts kids can make, from items around the house, you might want to check out my Pinterest board:  Green Gifts Kids Can Make.

For my kid's teachers, I made these cookies in a jar, from the Whole Foods Market Blog.  The jars were not purchased, but rather empty jelly jars we re-purposed.  We spruced up the jar, with a bit of fabric and ribbon around the top.  There is even a tag you can print out for the gift, here.  

If you are inspired to make something, I have been pinning upcycled projects for over a year at Pinterest.  Upcycled is a term for taking waste or used materials, and transforming it into something of better or higher quality.  Check out this board.

I mentioned that I was part of an Ornament Exchange this December.  In our group of four, two ornaments were upcycled!  This beauty was made by the creative Cindy Ann who runs the ornament exchange.  You might also want to check out the adorable egg carton angels made by Michele, from Michele Made Me.

We plan to audit our trash for the next week, so we can tell you exactly how much trash we made over the holiday.  We are hosting the family, so we might have more garbage than usual, but I am optimistic to share that we were able to have a few days filled with special moments without having an overflowing garbage bin.

I hope you have a lovely holiday. 



 

Less Trash Doesn't Have To Mean Less Memories

I mentioned in my Overconsumption post, that we are going with a simpler holiday this year.  I have to tell you, my old ways inch back, and sometimes I feel the urge to revert to my habits.  My husband and I agreed that the kids could each get each other one toy.  I took my daughter to get my son's gift, and while I was in the store, I had to resist my urge to buy more.  It was like a magnet was drawing me to the stuff.  I had to keep reminding myself that "stuff" does not equal memories.  It is really hard to break old habits. 

This weekend,  instead of going to the mall, we went to the kitchen.  We whipped up a batch of cookies, that caught my eye in a Whole Foods Market blog post about Gifts in Jars.  These cookies were a hit.  So, I just found my gift for my kids' teachers and we had our cookies for the week.  The added bonus was that our batch of cookies produced giggles, and kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar.  One batch of cookies equaled some sweet memories of my kids who are still young enough to giggle down to their toes, and still young enough to think that making cookies with mom is cool.  Something I couldn't have gotten at the mall!

Advent Calendar

Other greener holiday options we can share with you.  You can make an advent calendar  from toilet paper rolls, like the picture to the right.  Inside are coupons like - Go see Christmas lights, Read a book together, Watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, time, not stuff.

• You can give experiences, like a lesson to try something new.
• You can make something.  I was part of an ornament exchange, and gave these trees made from magazine pages.  My kids and I are as busy as elves making some gifts this year.  No crafty?  
• You can re-gift something - does a younger family member swoon over a piece of family jewelry?  Maybe it is time to pass it down. 

On the lights front - Have you converted to LED lights yet?  In Roseville, we could take back our old lights and trade them in for LED lights - for free!  We also just put up less this year. 

For cards - we cut down the number we are sending out.  I am in touch with so many people on Facebook, so we're just sending our cards out to a smaller number of people. 

For wrapping - We use and reuse gift bags each year.  After all the presents are passed out, we re-fold and stash the bags for next year.  Old gift-tags are also re-stashed for next year. 

I hope you and yours create some wonderful memories this year.  Did you make a gift this year?  I'd love to hear about it.

An update on how much trash we are making.  We have put out our garbage can the last two weeks and it has been less than half full, we could have easily skipped a week!  Our biggest change has been in our grocery shopping.