Hope Santa brought in good tidings for you and your family this Christmas and New Year. Festivals bring in happiness and joy, but also bring in paraphernalia of greeting cards, wrapping papers, ribbons and other decorations that are first stacked and then thrown away.

Here are some great ideas to recycle Christmas cards, wrapping and ribbons:

1. Gift bags: Collect empty cereal boxes in various sizes and cut the top flaps off. Stick the wrapping paper that you want to reuse on the box, carefully creasing the edges. Punch holes in opposite ends on the top for handles. Braid ribbons, pass these through the holes and then knot on the inside.  Use leftover decorations to spruce up your bag!
2. Wall Art: Cut large letters using pictures from greeting cards. Think of inspirational words such as Peace, Joy, Love or the name of your kid. Mount it on a contrasting wrapping paper and frame it. Play with various size, placement and fonts; use the one that works best for you.
3. Placemats and drawer liners: Cut about 20 strips of wrapping paper in lengths of 2.5cms x 20 cms. Learn the basic weaving technique of alternating strips of paper in an up and down direction to create a mat. Fold the edges and decorate with a ribbon. Laminate the woven mat and use as a disposable placemat or colorful drawer liners. Don’t worry, lerning to do that is as easy as learning how to play roulette!
4.  Paper doilies: Cut wrapping paper in a size slightly larger than a dinner plate. Use pinking shears to create a patter on the edges. Fold the round paper into a quarter and use a small punching machine to punch out a pattern. Experiment with the ones you like. Use these paper doilies as coasters for the next Christmas dinner.