It’s the season for company, school and family Christmas parties. Food, booze and spirit of camaraderie and merry making are filling the air wherever you turn your face to. During these Christmas parties, exchange gifts and gift-giving are two things that are always part of the program. How do we make gift wrapping and gift giving green?
If you go to the malls, you’ll notice that not only the cashier counters have long lines of customers. There are also long lines even at the gift wrapping sections. Gift wrapping is free for a minimum purchase of specific amount in almost all malls in the Philippines. Why will not people take advantage of it?
One reason why you can forgo lining at the gift wrapping section of your favorite malls is environmental issue. Every Christmas, we wrap our gifts with paper which we will only put into trash. How many trees and how much oil were used to manufacture these gift wrappers? How many trees and how much energy can we save if we use cloth and other alternative gift wrappers for our Christmas gifts?
I often use big colorful scarves as gift wrappers for the gifts that I will give to female friends. I didn’t destroy the wrappers of the gifts I received last year. Now I can use them again and I encourage my friends to do the same.
We have a yearly family reunion and this year, I am the organizer. I asked my cousins to give something that is not bought. It can be a junk art or a video clip or a a photo display from scrap or poetry or a pledge of action for the person whom we are giving gifts. My cousins thought it was a good idea and I’m sure we’ll be having a more memorable and GREEN Christmas party/ family reunion this 26th.
Giving is the spirit of Christmas but we don’t always need to give material things. It reduces our planet’s waste. It reduces our consumption of resources. It reduces the degradation of our environment. Green is the way to go this Christmas.
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