'Best Gift on Earth'

Before Christmas

The gifts, painstakingly wrapped and topped with glittery ribbon and bows, now lie in a heap on the floor. The trash cans quickly filled, the excess sits in plastic bags for the next garbage pickup.

Does this sound like you? Frankly, this situation applies to many.

Every year thousands families spend on decorative packaging, only to add to their waste after the holiday is over. This year, don’t forget to give a gift to Earth by recycling and reusing gift packaging in all its forms: ribbons, bows, gift bags, shirt boxes, etc,.

After Christmas

What to do with the following holiday trash:

Electronics

• You don’t need to throw out all your unwanted cameras, printers and computers in the trash can, or wait for a family member or friend to reuse it. Check with your local town or city to see when the next electronics recycling collection day. The collection days are always free for residents.

Tinsel

• Store and save for next year or reuse for a child’s school project.

Foam peanuts or Bubble wrap

• Call your town’s UPS or nearby shipping companies and ask them if they would like to reuse the materials for their own packaging.

Christmas Tree

• Unless your Christmas tree is plastic like mine, consider grinding down your live tree for mulch. Your best bet is to check with the local recycling officials for when trees can be dropped off or curb-side picked up.

Cardboard Boxes

• Save for re-use or recycle. But make sure to pull out any pieces inside the box that are not of cardboard material (plastic or foam pieces), or the cardboard box may be thrown in with the trash when taken to recycling.

Plastic Bags

• I always reuse plastic bags to line the trash bins in my home office and bathroom. However, you can also take the unwanted plastic bags to recycling stations at drug stores and groceries.

Plastic Packaging Pillows

• Save these for future packaging or shipping. Otherwise, pop the pillows until flat and also drop at your local drug store or grocery for recycling.

-S. Gonzalez

*Photo courtesy of flickr.com and alifedesign.blogspot.com

'Pop Goes the Weasel'

My Little Pony. Rainbow Brite.The Little Mermaid. 101 Dalmatians.

These were some of the characters that wound their way onto my pajamas, bedcovers and curtains when I was a child. I am not alone. Most people can place their childhood by the comic book heroes, fairytale princesses or animated cartoons they worshipped.

Unfortunately, trends come and go and eventually so does the merchandise. What often results is a stockpile of unwanted ‘Beauty and the Beast’ duvets and ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ curtains locked away in a closet. Someday, the same fate will befall the ‘Hannah Montana’ couches and the ‘Dora the Explorer’ vanities.

Livening your children’s bedroom doesn’t have to involve lavish purchases or intense renovation. Want to make a room pop? Creative accent pieces charged with color will satisfy even the toughest young critics until the next big craze comes along.

While lining dresser drawers with wrapping paper protects clothes, how about lining the walls of a bookshelf with your child’s favorite ‘Thomas the Engine’ or ‘Barbie’ prints? Use double-sided tape and first make a template of the shelf's back wall before mounting the wrapping paper. The paper is interchangeable and proves to your child that you too value his idols.

Don’t buy a new lamp to match the equestrian theme running rampant in your daughter’s room. Replace the lampshade with a splashy color like red or yellow. Better yet, paint the lampshade in a punchy hue from leftover paint lying around.

Removable decals (right) make their way from the wall and onto the unlikeliest of places. InStyle recently suggested sticking the decals on an old stool or wooden chair for a quick revamp. But lampshades, dresser drawers, and mirrors could all use a makeover. One week, it’s butterflies. And the next , it’s blossoms.

Children pay attention to detail. Why not add a daisy to the end of that curtain rod? Or how about topping it off with a train? Decorative curtain rods are a no fuss approach to dressing up a room.

No more coloring on the wall. Invest in a $32 whiteboard so that your next little Pablo Picasso can perfect his technique. From bold artwork today to listing homework assignments and term papers tomorrow, a whiteboard is worth every penny.

Steer clear of the ‘High School Musical’ and ‘Disney Princess’ themed whiteboards.

That’s what brightly colored decals are for!

And voilà:

Pop goes the bedroom.

-S. Gonzalez

*Photos courtesy of flickr.com, www.storesense4.megaservers.com, www.decorinnovation.com