Christmas

Christmas has come and past. It was a wonderful time visiting friends and family in the Pass and Calgary. It was beautiful, restful, and fun. It was also our first year as a married couple which made it extra special to me. I love that we get to share both of our families traditions and spend time with the people we love.

One of the main contributors to waste during the Christmas season is the wrapping we use for our gifts. I've already written a post about how to make gift bags, simple cloth bags that you can toss the gift in, cinch it up and that gift! This is also wonderfully handy because then I can easily and beautifully wrap strangely shaped items. I used a few of mine this year! Not only do I create less waste but I am also adding one more handmade item to someone else's gift!

I still had some gift wrap from previous years that I hadn't used. I also had some twine and ribbon left over from my wedding. I didn't want to just throw out these things so I figured out a way to use them. I wrapped them with the paper, as per the usual, but instead of adhering them with tape I used the twine to tie it up and added some ribbon to make it prettier.

This used up most of the old wrapping material I had and made it easy for the old paper to be reused later because it didn't tear because of the tape. It could be used to wrap another gift or as scrap paper to write/draw on.

Next year I plan on using old flyers or some craft paper, or perhaps making enough bags to suite my needs! Some people only gift 'experiences' such as a trip to the movies or a museum, a picnic, or a day skiing. Those are also good options for creating less waste. I try to do that for my nieces birthday's, it's a good option if you're into that or it fits in your schedule. Some people just don't wrap the presents and just give them. Figure out what works best for you. For me, at least this year, it was about using what I had and a mix of paper wrapping and my gift bags! It's not about being perfect, it's about using what you have and making it work for you!

I also forgot to take pictures of the things I wrapped until they had been unwrapped, whoops! Use your imagination!

Merry Christmas!