by Adam J. Franklin

Created on: November 10, 2008   Last Updated: November 13, 2008

When the time comes for you to give a gift to the ones you love, remember you can simultaneously give a gift to the environment by using "green" gift wrapping.

In the final months of every calendar year, we all look for new calendars that best reflect and display our interests, humor, dreams and lives in the upcoming year. Most households usually have a calendar in the home office and one in the kitchen or a central location where it can be viewed and used by everyone in the family. The non-environmentally friendly people tend to simply toss their calendars in the trash bin and the environmentally friendly people throw their calendars in the recycle bin. Although the latter is the best choice between the two, there is still another great choice; Pre-cycling!

Why not use this recyclable material for another use before sending it to the recycling plant! Did you know that you can cut the images from your calendar and use them as a personalized gift wrapping material? You can use the entire page with the image or cut out portions of the page and paste them directly onto your gift (depending on the size of gift and image). The date portion can also be used as part of the gift wrapping if you use the actual month in which your gift is to be delivered.

Another form of "green" gift wrapping could be the use of photographs you are going to give to that person anyway. Use the images to adorn your gift, but make them easy to remove without causing damage to the gift or the pictures.

With a small amount of cleaning and effort, even a used piece of aluminum foil or wax paper can also make a great "green" gift wrapping material. Look for "green" gift wrapping ideas all around the house and you will find things that you no longer use or have neglected.

Your environmentally friendly gift wrapping material can also be a combination of materials. You can use the aluminum foil as a base cover for your gift which you will later decorate with your personal pictures or images from your old calendars.

By using old materials as gift wrapping, you help the environment, reduce the price of your gift (not the value), minimize your trips to the store, save time and gas, create a pices of art that will spark many conversations and bring out the creative kid and adult in yourself.

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