A beautiful entryway display of Christmas greeting cards will have to be taken down once the holiday season ends. It seems such a shame to throw away all those precious Christmas cards and yet the idea of trying to find space to save them is a daunting prospect. This article presents some creative Christmas card recycling ideas and ways to reuse those old holiday greeting cards.
Reuse Holiday Greeting Cards – Make Christmas Card Recipe Cards
Whenever a new recipe presents itself, jotting it down on the back of a greeting card will be a great way to save it for future use, and save paper by avoiding the purchase of stacks of index cards. Take the pile of expired Christmas greeting cards and cut them to fit a standard index card-filing box. Invest in a small paper cutter to make quicker work of cutting the cards into consistently sized rectangles.
Keep some blank, cut greeting cards lying around near the television in case a great cooking show reveals a recipe that sounds interesting.
Christmas Card Recycling – Make Christmas Card Gift Tags
Making gift tags for next year out of Christmas cards from this year is another great Christmas card recycling idea. Cut each card into small rectangles, about one inch square, or one inch by two inches. Then, place them in a container or sealed plastic bag and stash them away along with the leftover Christmas wrapping paper for labeling next year’s holiday gifts.
Christmas Card Ornaments
A great craft idea for the kids is this simple method for transforming an old holiday greeting card into a Christmas tree ornament. The craft requires old greeting cards, ornament hangers or ribbon, scissors, and glue. Then, simply make a colorful ornament by following these easy steps:
- Cut out eight small circles (four to five centimeters in diameter, each) from the greeting card.
- Fold each circle in three places to form a triangle crease; unfold slightly. The triangle-shaped crease should be centered on the circle.
- Glue the slightly folded arcs outside the triangle crease together to form the ornament. All eight circles should fit like a puzzle together nicely to form a round-shaped Christmas ornament.
- Place a hook or ribbon into the gap at the top of the ornament and hang on the Christmas tree. See below for a picture of what the Christmas card ornament should look like.
Recycle Greeting Cards – Transform Cards Into Stencils
Greeting cards that have large leaves, pinecones, and other shapes from nature can be used as stencils for art projects, wood, or even wall murals or borders. Simply cut out the shape or design and set it aside for a Christmas card gift tag (see above recycling idea). Then use the card with punched out design as a stencil for any unique and creative arts, crafts, homemade gift, or home projects desired.
Reusing holiday cards can be creative and fun. Go green this Christmas with the above Christmas card recycling ideas. Reuse holiday greeting cards that may have sentimental value, or for the purpose of being less wasteful. Create ornaments, gift tags, recipe cards, and stencils with colorful greeting cards and save paper this holiday season.
Karen Plumley - Karen Plumley is a writer specializing in parenting and education. She works for Parenting NH and the Hippo, NH's most widely read ...
