Green Gift-Giving: Using Yellow Pages for Gift Tissue Paper
If I don't dump them in a blue bag recycling bin, I use them as wrapping paper or gift wrapping paper for birthday and Christmas gifts. Tissue paper is a waste of money. After it's used once, like gift wrapping paper, it can be used again but a large amount of people don't. So why not use paper that's already been used?
Tip One: Rip out the pages from the Yellow Pages books and ball them into small balls. You can rip out as many pages as you want without worrying about a count of twenty in tissue wrap bags or having to go back to party favor stores to get more.
Tip Two: With objects outside of clothing, this is no problem. Be careful with clothes though. This is the one perk of using regular tissue paper. There's no opportunity to leave a mark, but Yellow Pages sheets have ink on them. Of course you won't get the sheets wet, but there's still an opportunity to accidentally rub the print on the clothes. This is especially important if the clothes are made of silk, nylon or another delicate material. Cotton and fleece may not be a problem depending on the color. To be on the safe side, use a grocery bag to cover the clothing to make sure the sheets don't directly touch them. Be careful with jeans with new dye. They tend to bleed.
Tip Three: Gift wrapping paper is another item that takes forever to use unless there's a big holiday like Christmas coming around. If you buy a tube of gift wrap, once it's done, it's done for good. Chances are kids won't neatly unwrap a gift. It's ripped into shreds so tough that it can't be re-used. However, ripping up Yellow Pages is like ripping up recycled paper. It's already being recycled so it doesn't seem like as much of a waste of money.
This Christmas (or birthday or housewarming party or baby shower), brainstorm on ways you can use those Yellow Pages books instead of throwing them in the garbage, especially in neighborhoods that don't have the Blue Bag recycling program.
Published by Shamontiel
Shamontiel is the author of Round Trip and Change for a Twenty, and in mid-October became the Chicago Tribune s Digital News Editor. She works on National Travel, Health and occasionally Breaking News, and w... View profile
- Christmas Gift Wrapping ThemesChristmas will soon be here and we all know what that means: mountains of presents to wrap. Here are some pretty gift wrapping themes to have your gifts looking as festive and merry as the season is bright.
- Great Gift-Wrapping Ideas - Create Sensational Gifts with Unusual Papers and Gift-...Creating a sensational looking gift can be fun and simple. Using unusual new, and interesting recycled papers as gift-wrap is the key. Here are ideas for wrapping up your own special, sure-to-be-admired gifts!
Top 5 Free or Low Cost Green Gift Wrap IdeasIn today's economy, saving money is a priority. By using items around the house for gift wrapping, no only is the planet protected, but so is your wallet.- Local Marketing for Book Coaches: Using the Yellow Pages to Find ClientsBook coaching is a highly personalized service. Finding local clients may be a better way to get started than searching for them nationwide. This article provides step-by-step instructions for developiing local contac...
Should You Buy a Yellow Page Ad?The Yellow Pages are a prime advertising medium that businesses can use to connect with new customers. However, not all Yellow Page ads are worth their cost.
- Yellow Page Ads Are a Waste of Money
- 5 Sites that Sell Holiday and Christmas Gift Wrapping Paper
- 3 Unique Christmas Gift Wrapping Ideas for Large Presents
- DIY: Decoupage Gift Wrapping Boxes
- The Yellow Pages: A Great Place to Advertise Your Business
- Paper-less Christmas Gift Wrapping Ideas
- Inexpensive Gift Wrapping Ideas
5 Comments
Post a CommentGreat idea. I thought I knew of every possible way to reuse items for gift wrap... never thought of the yellow pages.
*cracking up laughing* *clapping hands* (I really did do that, by the way.) However, that's an even better reason to do it. You can get cute with it and find creative ways to personalize it. Know somebody who has a bunch of tattoos? Wrap their gift in all tattoo parlor ad pages. Know someone who loves to cook? Here's a chance to take advantage of the grocery store ads. In the photo above, I used a Victoria's Secret's bag. If I really wanted to make it personal, I could use all the sex store sections or lingerie store sections. Thanks for the idea.
I have used Sunday comic pages to wrap kid's gifts, reused wrapping and tissue paper, but never thought about using yellow pages. I save those pretty gift bags people use also. It would be just like me to find all the liquor store ads to line one of those bags holding a bottle of wine. The receipient might even notice.
*laughing* Love the play on words. Every single time I see Yellow Pages in my lobby, I'm always thinking, "Why won't the real estate company tell them to stop sending them?" They sit there forever and only about half of the people pick them up. I went a full year without even cracking one open and then had to replace it. Because I was temping with a textbook publisher at the time, I scooped up all of the old Yellow Pages and took them to their recycle bin, but not all areas of Chicago participate in the blue bag program. So I know more than likely folks were just throwing the books in the trash. I really hope whoever our next mayor is gets that going in every area of Chicago. All righty, Lynn, thanks for dropping by.
This is a fabulous idea! I have been a long-time Sunday comics user for gift wrapping, but using the yellow pages as gift tissue is "news" to me. Thank you!