Re-Use Holiday Gift Guide

It’s the season of giving and gifting, but have you ever thought about how much waste is produced around the holidays? The EPA reports that between Thanksgiving and New Years the volume of waste from households in the US increases by nearly 25%, around 1 million tons. It’s true, we all like getting new stuff, but you can reduce your waste and save money by re-using and re-purposing things that you already have to make great new gifts for friends and loved ones. Here are a few fun, simple, and creative solutions to help you reduce your waste this holiday season.  

1. Give the gift of repair to show someone you care. DIY repair projects are much easier than you think, and they’re fun! Local libraries have books on repairing and DIY projects, check out YouTube tutorials, or take a look at iFixit’s repair guides. Fixing a broken item or replacing a single part is more cost effective and less wasteful than buying a new thing. If you don’t want to make the repair yourself, come to the CVSWMD and Onion River Exchange’s first Repair Café. Volunteer fixperts will be providing repair services for free at this fun community event at the Universalist Church in Barre on Saturday, January 20th from 12-4 PM.
2. Save your old jelly jars, mason jars, pasta sauce jars, etc. to use for gifts.
   1. Hot Chocolate Mix: Fill a mason jar halfway with hot chocolate mix, then top with your favorite treats such as chocolate chips, marshmallows, candy canes, or sprinkles.
   2. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Mix or Sugar Cookie Mix
   3. Homemade Candles: for this, you’ll need a few simple materials including soy or beeswax, essential oils and some wicks (can be purchased at Walmart, Michaels, etc). Melt the wax over a double boiler. When melted, add a few drops of your favorite essential oils. While the wax is melting, adhere your wick to the bottom of the jar. You can do this simply by dipping the metal end of wick into the wax, sticking it to the bottom of your jar and letting it cool. Once adhered, pour the melted wax with essential oils into your jar, let it harden and voila! These can also be made in old teacups or mugs.
   4. Fill a mason jar with potting soil and purchase some seeds of different herbs such as basil, cilantro, dill- whatever is your favorite. This makes a fun gift for those with a green thumb!

​​3. It’s hard to believe, but CDs and DVDs are already becoming a thing of the past and most of us have some lying around the house. Paint over old discs to make coasters, dream catchers and cool wall art. Make a mobile or funky chandelier using an old hanger, some string, and discs.
4. DIY Corkboard: Save old corks from wine bottles to make a fun corkboard as a gift! Simply use an old frame that you already have, but make sure that it has a backer. Use a hot glue gun to attach the corks to the back of the frame. Let it cool and harden, then it’s ready to go!
5. Homemade ornaments are an easy gift to make using things that you already have around your house such as popsicle sticks, yarn, buttons, and glue. For ideas click here.
6. Another coaster idea: Use old rope or yarn, take a hot glue gun and add small dots of glue around the rope and coil it as you go.
7. Use old cardboard boxes to make fun bookmarks. Simply cut a carboard box into rectangular strips and decorate however you want.
8. Make someone a cozy new blanket using old textiles, t-shirts, towels and sheets. Cut fabric into squares and sew together.
9. Instead of buying wrapping paper, use old newspapers, magazines, or cloth to wrap presents. Brown paper bags work too, and you can decorate or color them with festive designs. 

by Cara Stapleford, Eco-AmeriCorps service member at CVSWMD.