Recycling during the holidays

I guess that re-gifting could be considered green, however re-purposing of materials can be even more fun.

I really don’t know why I go out and buy things for my sons for Christmas when they have more fun with that packaging.  Look to the left.   For those of you who got to enjoy Green Present wrapping 101 well here is another gem.

This weekend I had some of my family in from out of town so we celebrated Christmas with the boys a little early.  They got lots of cars etc, however they spent 2x’s as much time with the box that all of the present came in.  Usually they play fight, then cry, then go to time out for fighting, but within this magical box they tumbled for much longer than their typical attention span and did not complain about the physical contact with each other.

Watching my boys have fun the the box reminded me of my fun childhood as well.  While my parents would like to think that all of the money they spent on the toys made me really happy, they know that the best memories were of the items that were inexpensive or actually durable.

Let’s start with durable.  Durability is one of the cornerstones of sustainability.  It seems like the life cycle of the toys that we get the boys is about 2 weeks if it is made out of plastic.  Not that they abuse the toys, but the quality is not always there.  What is even more disappointing is that most of the plastic is not labeled for recycling so I am not sure if it is plastic #1 or #2.  I still have all of my Legos, Constructs and other building toys from my childhood.  I plan of giving these to my sons when they are ready for them.  I also remember getting tools and functional items when I was growing up (Now I see how I got into the construction industry.)

Inexpensive.  Why do we have to spend so much money for the holidays?  Not sure.  For my extended family- we made gifts 4 out of the last 5 years and those gifts seem to be the ones best appreciated and remembered.  A couple years ago we put together a compilation of family recipes and handed them out.  My sister in law tells us that this recipe book recipes always get so many compliments and she in turns passes the recipes along.

This just goes to show that a box can entertain kids more than plastic toys that cannot be recycled very easily.  Once the box gets worn out it can be recycled.  Gifts that are made are more appreciated as well.  they may take more time, but time well spent.

Next year I am just going to give the boys a pile of hangers, a new box and some yarn and let them play for days with that instead of giving them something that they will break or eventually lose.  I will let you know how it works out for me.  They don’t know the difference, well at least until they read this blog in 5 or years once they can read.  By then, they may forgive or just thank me for the fun trash, I mean toys that I gave them to play with.

Happy Holidays.

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