Reusing Holiday Cards and Paper

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For a church activity this week I was asked to teach how to use old Christmas cards to make a fan... but I I didn't love it, so I googled for other recycling ideas of old Christmas cards and compiled a great list that I would like to share with everyone, because recycling and reusing items is both frugal and a great way to beautify your home for free or cheap!

The activity I will be teaching the women tonight is how to make a gift box out of an old card,though modifying the directions a little bit. I chose this one to teach because it doesn't take long to teach (since it's not the only activity of the night) and I think it's a really easy and a good use of old cards. I figure little gift boxes could be used to do advent gifts/boxes for next year. Or, for a gift, especially as a stocking stuffer! The best part is that you can make the box shallower or deeper to fit whatever gift you have in mind to give. Plus, it's super cute to already have Christmas images on the front and back of the box. No wrapping necessary. Here's the one I made:

I turned this Christmas Card into a gift box

I love that the Christmas card gift boxes don't need wrapping and already have cute messages too!

Even the back of the Christmas card gift box is cute!

Anyways, here's the list I compiled of things to do with used Christmas cards. I used various sources and cited tutorials for projects that need more than a brief explanation. Google for more ideas if needed. My favorite ones were pretty much all of the ones from the better homes and garden website, especially the Christmas card tree! So cute!

Ways of Reusing and Recycling Old Christmas Cards:

Simple reuses:

1. Cut off the back of the card and paste in a blank card and reuse it and resend it.

2. Cut off the back of the card and use the front as a postcard, but make sure it fits postcard regulation size or between 3 1/2 inches and 4 1/4 inches in height (measured vertically, perpendicular to address) and must be between 5 and 6 inches in width (measured horizontally, parallel to address). Postcard size mail must have an Aspect Ratio between 1.3 and 2.5. To find aspect ratio, divide width by height.

3. Donate them to St. Jude’s Ranch for Children or other local charities.

4. Cut and create gift tags from the cards. Here’s one example of what you can do:

http://www.bhg.com/christmas/crafts/christmas-card-projects/#page=13

5. Cut up the fronts of cards and create a puzzle.

6. Create a bookmark. Laminate to have it last longer.

7. Cut out images and sayings and put them between contact paper or laminate them to create placemats.

8. Scrapbook or make a collage out of your favorite images and messages.