Help Your Kids Save the Planet at Christmas

The gift giving spirit of Christmas time creates a flurry of cheerful and colorful presents, lights and ornaments every year which helps one enjoy this special time of the year. Unfortunately, some of that holiday cheer eventually ends up in the waste paper basket after the presents have been unwrapped and the decorations have been taken down. This year, consider giving a Christmas gift to the planet by making it a point to conserve and recycle. An Earth-friendly Christmas is especially appropriate for children, who will enjoy saving the planet while crafting lovely holiday gifts and decorations.

Wrapping paper and Christmas cards are indispensable when you want to create a merry holiday experience for your family and friends. Many people use these paper products only once and then throw them away, where they contribute to the amount of waste on the planet. Some people try to recycle as much of the wrapping and packing paper as possible, along with cards, cardboard boxes and other paper products. But even recycling isn't always the best choice for the environment, and reusing these materials at least once before recycling them will help toward helping the Earth.

By reusing wrapping paper can seem like an obvious way to reduce holiday waste, but there's no need to stop at simply folding up this year's paper to use next year. On the morning of Christmas, while the kids are still in the right mood for cutting and shredding the wrapping paper, let them tear and cut up several different sheets of Christmas wrapping paper and then tape the pieces randomly together to create sheet of Christmas collage paper. If you need to make the process simpler, a leftover piece of plain packing paper can be used as a base to which the kids tape or glue the festive bits of Christmas wrapping paper. When having done this, the children will ensure that next year's wrapping paper is both environmentally conscious and artistically unique.

There are a number of easy ways to reuse Christmas wrapping paper and cards, and children will be fascinated by the variety of decorations and flourishes that can be found on some types of Christmas cards. Many store-bought cards now come decorated with durable, sturdy trappings such as gold or silver foil, puffy snowmen, lace, ribbon, glitter and even pieces of colorful plastic. These decorations can be pulled off or cut out of the paper part of the card and glued to cardboard backing to create handmade ornaments for next year's tree. To use this year's Christmas cards as next year's gift wrapping paper, let the kids cut out interesting images and sections from their Christmas cards this year and store the pieces away. Next year, let the kids choose their favorite finds from the old cards and glue them onto wrapped presents or fancy gift boxes. With a little bit of imagination, you can make a Christmas tradition that's creative as well as good for the Earth, imparting environmentally conscious lessons to your kids along with the holiday spirit.