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’Tis the Season to Go Green

May your days be filled with happy scenes,
And may all your holidays be green.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

• Choose a greener holiday card
  It is estimated that over 2 billion holiday cards are sold in the United States alone. “That is enough to fill a football stadium field 10 stories high.” (Medical University of South Carolina, n.d) So look for cards that contain or are made from recycled materials. Or create your own holiday cards from materials that you have on hand.
• Choose a greener gift wrap
  In most households, wrapping paper is used just once and then promptly thrown out once the gifts have been unwrapped. This holiday look for wrapping paper that contains or is made from recycled materials. Another wonderful option is to use items from around the home to wrap gifts… colorful pages from magazines, old maps, the Sunday comics, decorative tins, baskets and boxes. Finally, reuse wrapping paper from prior years. “If every American family wrapped just 3 presents in re-used materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields.” (Medical University of South Carolina, n.d)

Green Gifting

• Choose your gifts wisely and greenly
  Look for gifts that defy the latest fad. When choosing a gift, look for items that are made from or contain recycled materials. Also look for items that can be reused and/or recycled.
• Give the gift of green
  Look for gifts that help to support the green movement and help to bring environmentalism into the lives of those that receive the gift. When choosing a gift, look for items that are made from or contain recycled materials. Look for items such as books on green topics: nature, environmentalism, conservation, organic gardening, and herbs. Give a gift that helps support a greener lifestyle such as canvas tote bags, battery rechargers, refillable thermoses, seeds and plants.
• Give a gift of yourself
  Try your hand at homemade gifts like homemade cookies, cakes, pies, jams, quilting, woodworking, arts and crafts. You can also give the gift of your self… your time. Make a gift certificate out of recycled materials for items such as 1 free backrub, 1 free homemade dinner, 1 free weeding the yard.

Decoration Idea

• When decking the halls, think green
  Bring nature into your home. Holly, pinecones, cranberries, and evergreens all help to bring the colors of the holidays into our homes and afterwards they can be added to the compost pile, so that they can continue to give all year round. You can also bring some green to the holiday tree by decorating with edible and compostable items like cookies and popcorn, as well as creating your own ornaments from items around the home.

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Photo credit: Natural holiday decorations, ^©iStockphoto.com/Gorfer; Holiday centerpiece, ^©iStockphoto.com/JBryson