Recently, I attended a wedding shower for an long time high school friend. She’s adorable and I wanted to get her a nice gift but also be “green”. At first, I didn’t even look at her registry, I wanted to be unique and buy recycled items or something neat from Green Feet or Organic Style. I looked and looked but then remembered when I got married. I wanted gifts off my registry and the many gifts I received that weren’t on my registry, six years later…sit in my hall closet.
I decided I would look through the three registries and find something I could add to an eco friendly gift but I had zero luck. I ended up with the items above but I did not want to buy gift wrap and be wasteful. Did I have some recycled wrap or gift bag I could use? Nope. That’s when this idea hit me, I’d recycle some cardboard and with my young cousins in town they could decorate the cardboard to look like my friend Chelsea (she’s prettier in person). They had a ton of fun doing this and then we just tied the apron around this cardboard version of my friend Chelsea and stuck the gifts in the pocket. I made my gift, green! Plus it got a great response at the shower and made everyone smile. They asked how I came up with the idea and I said, I try to not use conventional wrapping paper, it’s wasteful.
Next time you have a wedding shower or birthday party try to green your gift somehow. Maybe use a reusable bag instead of a gift bag. Reusablebags.com has a huge summer sale going on right now, you could stock up! It might mean getting creative but that’s the fun. Besides, it shows everyone around you that you care and it might inspire someone else to green their gift.
