I take all the Christmas cards and reuse them as gift tags and for making my own cards with the kids. Not only do we get to save money and resources, the kids also have making the cards for family and friends and the gift tags are more personalized to age and likes of the individual receiving the gift.
I have made gift tags out of old cards for several years now. I just cut out part of the picture, punch a hole with a hole punch and attatch with ribbon. This especially works well since I mostly use (and reuse) gift bags instead of wrapping paper.
My daughter and I always enjoy making our own holiday gift tags every year, and they are cherished by the gift recipients. This year I received a gift in November that arrived in a department store gift box with a design of dots in holiday colors. Unfortunately, the gift giver had written on the box so I couldn't re-use it. Instead, I cut it up into gift tag-sized pieces, which my daughter and I are now busy decorating
This IS a good way to re-use old Christmas cards! Great idea! ...You could also do the same thing with kids birthday cards for birthday gifts!
* Another one of my favorite ways to recycle Christmas cards is to Crochet around them to make hanging ornaments for the tree. I just got the idea from here on ThriftyFun from this post from last week: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf35986354.tip.html
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Tip: Old Holiday Greeting Cards As Gift Tags
Archived on 12/08/2008
Don't throw out your greetings cards once the holiday season is past. When you have sorted out the special ones you want to keep, go through the rest and save any with pictures that can be cut out (i.e. no writing on the back) - which is usually most of them. The cut-out smaller cards you get can be used for gift tags next year. I had this tip from a friend years ago and have done it ever since. I rarely need to buy gift tags at Christmas and it's a good way of recycling those lovely cards we just otherwise throw away or recycle with the other waste paper.
By Gill
Feedback:
RE: Old Holiday Greeting Cards As Gift Tags
We did this "back in the day" when I was a little kid....1960s/1970s. Nowadays I do this, especially for larger gifts where I want the tag to be noticed, and use my decorative edge scrapbook scissors to make the cuts. Punch a hole and add some (often recycled) ribbon for a nice touch. This makes a fun rainy day project to do with your kids near the holidays, and can even be done as you're putting things away after Christmas to prepare for the next holiday. They could add stickers and glitter, etc., to embellish. I'm sure other holiday and greeting cards could be used for birthday gifts throughout the year, too. (10/27/2008)
Don't throw out your greetings cards once the holiday season is past. When you have sorted out the special ones you want to keep, go through the rest and save any with pictures that can be cut out (i.e. no writing on the back) - which is usually most of them. The cut-out smaller cards you get can be used for gift tags next year. I had this tip from a friend years ago and have done it ever since. I rarely need to buy gift tags at Christmas and it's a good way of recycling those lovely cards we just otherwise throw away or recycle with the other waste paper.
By Gill
Feedback:
RE: Old Holiday Greeting Cards As Gift Tags
We did this "back in the day" when I was a little kid....1960s/1970s. Nowadays I do this, especially for larger gifts where I want the tag to be noticed, and use my decorative edge scrapbook scissors to make the cuts. Punch a hole and add some (often recycled) ribbon for a nice touch. This makes a fun rainy day project to do with your kids near the holidays, and can even be done as you're putting things away after Christmas to prepare for the next holiday. They could add stickers and glitter, etc., to embellish. I'm sure other holiday and greeting cards could be used for birthday gifts throughout the year, too. (10/27/2008)
