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Door County Environmental Council

It’s that time of year again. Time for gift-giving, greeting cards, wrapping paper and decorations. How can we reduce our environ-mental footprint during this “over the top” time of year, without being called a Scrooge? Here are a few ideas!

• Recycle Cards: A friend of mine saves all the holiday cards she receives from one year to the next. She cuts the cards in half, along the fold line, and sends the colorful picture half out as a post card. This saves on reduced postage rates and envelopes. Or you can use the picture half for craft projects.

• Wrapping Paper: Instead of buying wrapping paper, paint sheets of newspaper in gold or silver and wrap the gift. Top the box with pressed leaves also painted in contrasting gold or silver and tie it on with metallic embroidery thread. Or:

– Wrap kids’ gifts in colorful Sunday comics and top with glittery pine cone or candy cane.

– Save all store bought paper from other peoples’ gifts for re-use next year or use the white side as a blank canvas for the kids to decorate with markers, paint or stamping (Move over Martha Stewart!)

• Decorations: You don’t have to buy decorations at the store. Walk outside and look around you:

– Clip red dogwood branches and/or cedar boughs, bundle them, and bring them indoors for the mantel, vase or crock.

– Painted gold leaves can also be hung in the window with maroon ribbons.

– Glittery pinecones and extra tree ornaments can be put in a glass bowl or on the table.

– Dried flowers, like hydrangea, look gorgeous either plain or painted and placed throughout the house.

• Gifts: In this country of over-abundance, choosing a gift doesn’t have to mean more “stuff” that we don’t really need. Think outside the “newest electronic gadget or chia pet” box:

– How about gifts of Family Time Togetherness, like a family pass to the zoo, sporting event, museum, or play? Time together is more precious than gold.

– Stressed out mom or dad? How about a gift certificate for spa treatment or a massage and offer to baby sit for that hour while they unwind?

– Consider a gift certificate for lawn maintenance, rug cleaning, window washing or house cleaning for someone who is too busy or unable to do the work.

• Donations in their name: If you feel like you still have to hand them a box to make it “official,” try a half-and-half gift. Take half of the dollar amount and buy the person a “stuff,” and take the other half and make a donation to a charity that the recipient has an interest in. For example, if the person is a sports nut, make a donation in their name to the YMCA or the Special Olympics. Armed Service Member? Make a donation in their name to a VA hospital or local VFW. Woodworker? High-school shop class. Animal lover? Local humane society or one of the many national bird, wildlife or endangered species organizations. Fellow environmentalist? The DCEC.

You get the idea. It’s about taking the time to think about that special person and giving a gift of the heart that will never end up in a landfill.

Hope your holidays are filled with lots of laughs and hugs and that you can incorporate a few of these ideas into your plans to reduce our consumption of what the earth has given us.

For more information call 920.743.6003, email [email protected], or visit http://www.dcec-wi.org.