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Wrap gifts in reusable shopping bags. - Julie Jackson, Allied Waste Recycling Coordinator
For holiday meals which we host, we use 'real' (washable) china and flatware and cloth napkins. For wrapping 'paper', we use old Sunday comics or cloth like dish towels or napkins. We encourage the exchange of 'alternative' gifts, like charitable donations or handmade gift certificates for services like babysitting or back rubs. - Marge Stevens, Accountant
We package all of our family's birthday and Christmas gifts in reusable nesting (cardboard) hatboxes, eliminating the need for gift wrap. Not only does it reduce waste, it eliminates the time-consuming process of wrapping gifts. During the rest of the year, the larger boxes are used for storing hats or smaller boxes. - Jennifer Parke, Assoc. Professor, Crop & Soil Science
We wrap presents creatively in ways that are either part of the present, use recyclable materials, or re-use the non-recyclable wrapping paper others use on gifts. We keep a box of carefully preserved non-recyclable wrapping paper for re-use. - Janet Schmidt, Accountant
For the holidays I like to give books I've read to friends and family. Rather than buying a new copy and adding to consumeristic waste, I give my copy with a little note inside requesting that the recipient in turn give the book to another person. I also make my own holiday greeting cards instead of buying packages of new ones. I save the cards from previous years and use patterned scissors and ribbon to attach pictures from old cards to colored cardstock. The final product is not only fun to make and more eco-friendly, but it also shows the recipient that I cared enough to take the time to make a card especially for them. (On a side note, I find this craft activity to be an excellent stress reliever when I'm in the middle of a busy academic term.) I also like to give gifts of food, be it treats or an entire meal, instead of purchasing items people don't really need anyway. - Sarah Cunningham, graduate student, Applied Anthropology
I buy holiday fabric after Christmas (when it on sale). I use it to make fabric bags of various sizes - sometimes from all one fabric, other times in some quilting pattern to use up leftover scraps of fabric from my quilting stash. Gifts are placed in the bags and the top is tied closed with yarn. The bags are re-used by the recipient or sometimes come back to me several years later. -Joan Sandeno, Senior Research Assistant
I only buy what I know the gathering of people I will entertain will eat (Of course, accounting for the leftovers I enjoy having!). I don't give in to the temptation of using disposables; in fact, it becomes part of the festivities to help wash dishes and clean-up together! - Saren Call, senior, Natural Resources
We cut our own "wild" tree from our own land - but, if you don't own land of your own, I know you can get permits from the Forest Service to cut trees from public lands. This isn't necessarily a bad or wasteful practice - you can find nice trees growing in areas where they will soon become over crowded, so your cutting can actually be considered useful thinning! Christmas tree farms are very intense in their use of chemicals, so if you can avoid buying commercial trees, it is to the good. - Patricia Muir, Professor, Botany & Plant Pathology
A great idea is to give gifts that will be used up, such as special food, candles, or soap. It's easy to wrap items such as these in reusable pieces of cloth, tied with colored string, yarn, or ribbon. - Ariel Ginsburg, Publishing Manager
Cut paper bags into flat pieces to use as wrapping paper and decorate with stamps, paint, or collage. Throughout the year, save tissue paper and packaging materials from mail or gifts and reuse for holiday gifts. Or, cut an unwanted article of clothing into flat pieces for wrapping material. Think of unique and beautiful decorations for your packages: old buttons, pieces of unwanted jewelry, random pieces of hardware, etc. The recipient will appreciate that you really took the time to create a thoughtful gift! - Rachel Brinker, senior, Women's Studies
When possible I make gifts or buy them at craft fairs and they don't come with all the prepackaging waste that an item from the store would have. -Anita Holman, Faculty Research Assistant
I use reusable containers to give guests leftovers from the holiday dinner. -Donetta Sheffold, Executive Assistant to the Vice Provost for Information Services
To reduce waste during the holiday season, I make sure to compost any left-overs from holiday get- togethers. I reuse my gift bags if I give gifts, and I try to buy gifts that have the least amount of packaging. - Yuliya Kostromitina, alum, History
I buy first at "Gifts for a Better World," a cooperative and fair trade program with people from other lands, and at TEAL, the Corvallis artists coop, both of which eliminate the middle-person and sell items that are not wrapped in packaging! - Ed Curtin, LIFE@OSU Interim Editor
Each year, two friends and I get together to make "Girlfriend Jam" that we give as holiday gifts. I send a number of boxes off to friends and relatives and for packing material, I use the shredded paper from our shredder at work and collect and reuse cardboard boxes I see in our recycling area. Now if I could figure out a way to "beam" the boxes to their destinations.... - Pat Newport, Director of Marketing and Advancement, College of Health and Human Sciences
With our extended family (17 of us), we have a name draw and give a gift to only that person. That way, there's not a lot of buying of things that people won't use or don't want. - Carol Savonen, Assoc. Professor Emeritus
