living christmas tree

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Three Quick Green Holiday Packing and Wrapping Tips

December 16, 2008 in Holiday, Organic Gardening by Jennifer | No comments

  1. Save all your old newspapers, magazines, and tissue paper, and send them through the shredder to make instant thin packing strips. If you have colorful strips, say from magazines, you can use them in holiday gift bags or baskets even.
  2. Skip gift tags and try simply jotting down who a gift is for on the package itself. You can also write on the gift’s bow or ribbon. Or use old gift tags (save them each year).
  3. Make a gift super reusable by packing it in a nice reusable bag or lunch sack. It’s a two for one gift!

For more green gift wrapping tips visit: Eco-Wrap Your Holiday Gifts

Have A Recycled Holiday Season

December 10, 2008 in Holiday by Jennifer | No comments

The holidays are the perfect time to put reuse to good use. Try the following…

Reuse holiday cards. Cut the fronts off and re-glue them to blank paper (recycled of course). Embellish as you like, and send.

Reuse holiday wrap. Each year save your holiday wrap for the next. You can also save holiday gift tags, bows, tissue paper, and packing materials for mailing gifts.

If you have to buy new wrapping paper, purchase recycled gift wrap.

Use oddball wrap. Wrap a gift in newspaper, old art projects, found vintage or thrift tins, a reusable bag, or an old box.

Use recycled table items for holiday parties and events.

Recycle holiday meal leftovers into your compost bin and turn it into great garden matter.

You can recycle your Christmas tree by buying a live tree, that you can then re-plant (not totally recycling, but you get the idea). You can even go extreme green, and decorate a tree outside instead of buying new.

Purchase recycled gifts and toys. All sorts of gifts can be bought used, and many companies make new items out of recycled goods. See gift ideas (many recycled) from Best Green Home Tips.

What other holiday reuse ideas can you come up with?

The Greenest Christmas Tree

November 28, 2008 in Holiday by Jennifer | No comments

Now that Thanksgiving is officially over, you may be thinking about getting your Christmas tree. But which tree is the best green choice?

Your best bet – a living Christmas tree:

Living Christmas trees are great because you can celebrate with them, then plant them. Need help?

Go organic:

There are Organic Christmas tree farms now, and we all know that pesticide free is the best way to go, if you have the option.

Artificial Christmas trees vs. real Christmas trees…

When it comes to this battle, real trees almost always win. It seems fishy, I know, but cutting down a tree is more eco-friendly than an artificial tree. Why? Artificial trees are usually made from non-renewable plastics; some containing PVC. The toxins and other nasty chemicals used to create artificial trees make them a poor green decision. Also, real trees can be mulched and used in the garden or used for heat where as artificial trees cannot easily be recycled; in some cases, they can’t be recycled at all.

Have a tree-free holiday:

You can celebrate without a tree. There are plenty of ways to bring some pine fresh love into your home sans an entire tree. Consider wreaths made from gathered fallen forest branches, or a tabletop decor item made from swags of tree, pine cones, and berries. Your kids can even use recycled paper to create a fun pretend tree on the wall.

Coming up: I’ll be posting some eco-friendly Christmas tree decorating ideas – stay tuned!