Recycle Your Christmas Cards

It's a given- during the Christmas and holiday seasons, we're going to get Christmas cards. Some of these cards are simply "adequate," and get the message across, others are funny or "cute," then there are the stunningly gorgeous cards with the heavy paper and foil. It's a joy to both send and recieve Christmas cards. But what do you do when the Christmas season is over with?

You recycle them of course!

By far one of the easiest ways to recycle Christmas cards, is to get a "card holder" to display them each Christmas holiday season. You can store the holder and the cards with your normal Christmas decorations after the Christmas holiday season is over with. This is the "quick and easy" way to recycle them.

Another way to recycle Christmas cards is to separate the front and back of them, saving the front pictures, and making a collage out of them. You can make it in the shape of a wreath, or even put it on a big sheet of poster board or foam board. If done with a bit of glitter glue on the edges to outline photos, this can make a stunning and artistic Christmas decoration to use for years to come.

You can also remove the fronts off of Christmas cards, put the greetings and "notes" inside into a manila folder or scrapbook for safe-keeping- and then use the fronts of the cards as post cards- either through-out the year or just during the Christmas holidays seasons. This makes the cards enjoyable not only to you, but to someone else as well.

You can also, using a pair of pinking shears, cut a decorative edge along the outer sides of the fronts of your old Christmas cards, and use them as scrap-booking decorations with a Christmas or holiday theme. This is a really fun way to recyle Christmas cards, because you will be able to still enjoy their beauty, along with your family's Christmas holiday memories for many years to come.

You can recycle Christmas cards in the most literal way possible. Take the Christmas cards and their envelopes- after the Christmas holiday season, of course- to your local recycling center, and put them in the paper-recycling bin. This is a good way to help make an aspect of Christmas a "green" holiday, and you won't have the clutter or have to worry about storing the cards during the coming months.

You can also save the cards for craft projects through the coming year, there are endless possibilities to the things you can make using Christmas cards. And you'll be recycling them and saving landfills in the process. Use your imagination, and even ask family members and friends for ideas on how to recycle Christmas cards- remember that the skies' the limit when it comes to recycling most things.

You can always take parts of the pictures or words on an old Christmas card, and in "collage" fashion and using blank notecards (bought reasonably cheap at a craft or office supply store)- glue them onto the blank notecards to make "new" Christmas cards for the following year.

The Christmas holiday season is wonderful, and recycling afterwards can continue the season of joy and goodwill towards men. After all, regardless of your reasons for recycling Christmas cards, you're still helping the planet and continuing the holiday spirit of giving.