Green Christmas Presents

[CleoCy]

We have been doing something similar, now, for about 10 years. We restrict the amount we spend on each other - just the 2 of us - to no more than euro50. the residue of what we would have spent is sent to charities we support. Also, we stopped buying and sending cards. Instead, for family and friends abroad, we buy items from charities - such as an Ambulance, one year, or making it specific to the recipient - measles inoculation, for a new baby, plant trees, for our farmer friends, and so on. We do like the idea of making presents, though. This would work very well, and gets back to the old ways of celebrating this mid-winter festival.

Glass jars can be painted with special paints, and used with night lights, as little Christmas lanterns. It is simple to cut open eggs - or blow them - and decorate them as baubles. Make your own, very luxury, chocolates - lots of recipes on the web. I had a friend who used to make shopping bags out of glossy magazines, but I have never been able to find instructions for this. Any ideas? They were woven, in some fashion.

We now grow our own trees - beech, oak and other natives - from seed. These make excellent presents for our local friends, and they contribute to greening the land! If you know anyone with a horse or horses, make compost - this is always a great present for gardeners!

[tasmin]

just wondering if i could pick ur brain for some ideas

its our 17th wedding anniversary on the 11th oct, and i've been speaking to my hubby about presents...normally we get stuff we either wouldnt buy for ourselves or useless things that get put away and never seen again.

anyway, i suggested that we make something for each other rather than buying something...and hes reluctantly agreed :-) it would be easier for him to go into a shop and buy something :-|

but i'm at a total loss as to what to do.

was thinking of a tree maybe, but wouldnt know where to start.

any ideas from u or any of the other jumbletowners would be grately appricated.

all the best,

tasmin

[unapam]

Hi, maybe you could make something together. Depends really on what your talents or skills are...a simple bird table for the garden or mix a bit of cement and press your hands into it ala Hollywood and carve the date and when it is dry you can make a garden feature of it in a flower bed. We did this when our children were babies and it is still perfect and a feature in our back garden 21 years later.

[tasmin]

great idea!!!!!!!!!!


i love the idea of the cement and handprints.

thanks unapam!


all the best,
have a nice day.


tasmin

[erica]

Originally Posted by unapam

Hi, maybe you could make something together. Depends really on what your talents or skills are...a simple bird table for the garden or mix a bit of cement and press your hands into it ala Hollywood and carve the date and when it is dry you can make a garden feature of it in a flower bed. We did this when our children were babies and it is still perfect and a feature in our back garden 21 years later.

That's a brilliant idea! What did u use to put the cement in to set?

[paprika]

There are some really good ideas i liked on this page:
http://www.allfreecrafts.com/recycling-crafts/

[bluecurlygirl]

Excellent website paprika. The person who was wondering about how to make shopping bags should check this out.

[SadD]

I'm going to let all you jumbletowners in on my little secret for gift giving. I get most of my inspiration for crafting gifts for friends and family members from this amazing website:
www.etsy.com
It has something for everyone - I love it!

[unapam]

Originally Posted by erica

That's a brilliant idea! What did u use to put the cement in to set?

Hi Erica, sorry for delay in answering your query. We were laying foundations for a swing for the children and had dug a hole for each leg. We got them to put their prints into one of these and when we were getting rid of the swing we just kept that one. cheers...Pam

[Bunty]

Really brill. site paprika, well worth sharing.

[durran]

Last Christmas I didn't want to waste money on wrapping paper so my daughter designed some Christmas bags. Just using permanent markers and Aldi bags.

[BillieT]

Lovely idea with the bags Durran. I went to the afters of a wedding last year, and I had bought kitchen stuff as a present. I wrapped it with new tea towels. Several guests mentioned it later and said they were gonna do that next time.
Cool eh? wrapping paper that you can dry your dishes with.

[unapam]

Originally Posted by durran

Last Christmas I didn't want to waste money on wrapping paper so my daughter designed some Christmas bags. Just using permanent markers and Aldi bags.

What a great idea that is. Well done! and the one for the teatowel wrapping is wonderful. We are all thinking outside the box!

[bluecurlygirl]

I have a huge selection of rubber stamps and last year all my wrapping paper was brown paper stamped with trees/stars/snowmen/reindeer etc. It looked really good with a bit of ribbon (i hoard ribbon from boxes of chocolates & get friends/colleagues to keep them for me too!)

[magiceight]

Check out http://www.craftster.org/

All the ideas you'll ever need, and they even have a whole section on repurposing & recycled crafts :D