We really don’t go all out for Holidays. As I’ve mentioned in my son’s birthday post, we don’t get crazy with the commercialism and stick to a pretty minimalist theme. We also don’t celebrate Christmas in our house (more like Chrissmas), but more on that another time.
Other family members, however, are a different story. Many people (especially older folk, wink wink) seem to equate love with gift giving, and it’s really tough to get them to break the habit.
Unfortunately we live away from all family, so for many years my Mom has been sending Amazon gift cards and I have been ordering what she wants to get my kids. I use my Amazon Prime Membership to save money on shipping and it really does help to simplify things (for my Mom too). The only issue I have is when Amazon ships in multiple shipments and I end up with extra boxes. I do my best to avoid that, but some things are shipped from different distribution centers, so there isn’t a lot I can do.
So, I’m already feeling kinda bad about extra boxes…how could I even consider using a bunch of wrapping paper to wrap each gift? I searched the web for eco-friendly or green wrapping paper ideas, and I liked what I found. That said, since we are minimalists we don’t have a lot of that stuff laying around. Even though I love the reusable tote bag idea, I already have those and my kids don’t need ‘em. I also want to do something we can do every year for Xmas and even for Birthdays (why not?).
For the last two years, we’ve just piled everything into one Amazon box per kid and let them open the box of unwrapped gifts. This year, I’ve come up with a new plan for Minimalist Eco-Friendly Gift Wrap! The kids are going to repurpose plastic storage totes we already own!
I wish I could tell you we already did this and I could provide pictures of their handy-work, but we are opening gifts from my family on the 28th because we will be out-of-state for Xmas (and the date doesn’t really matter to us anyway). So, on our Chrissmas Eve (Dec 27th this year), I will have the kids decorate their storage bins with stickers and markers. I think it will be a fun new tradition for them and we can reduce our carbon footprint at the same time!
I will update this post next week with pictures, but in the meantime….what do you do that helps you to be green during the Holidays?
