RECYCLED CHRISTMAS/HOLIDAY GREETING CARDS - Page 6

Grocery Lists
Cut front of card away from rest of the card. Turn over and use for grocery lists

Holiday Doorways
Use double-sided tape and decorate door jambs - slant the cards for special effect.

House Décor
Re-use holiday cards to decoupage laundry room and garage cabinets.

Meals On Wheels, Hospital Long-Term Care, Senior Citizen Centers, Shelters

Cut fronts, punch holes around edges, weave yard or colored ribbon in the holes. A fun little surprise for meals.

Donate to Centers for residents to create arts and craft projects

Create collages with greeting cards, about the size of place mats, to give to hospitals for patients to pin on their walls during the holiday season.

Mail the greeting cards to St. Jude's Ranch for Children, who make and sell them as Christmas tags and cards.

Memories Keepers

Memories in a Bow
Discard the envelopes and stack, tie with a pretty satin bow and put away. Do this each year and when the children are grown or you want to enjoy the memories, untie a bundle and read all the sentiments and letters from family and friends.

Memory Books
Cut the fronts off all the greeting cards and stack. Cut all the cards to the same size; punch holes on the sides of the card, lace with ribbon and tie off to make pretty little booklets for the children to play with and enjoy.

Memory Album 
Using the very special cards to remind the family of highlights… and paste them two to a page, asking everyone to write what was special that year to them.

Office Decorations
Decorate office cubicles

Party Ideas
Use holiday cards to make small boxes for trinkets or candy. For a little larger box, glue the front of several compatible design cards together. Fold into a box shape and tape on the inside to keep it together. Make the lid a little larger than the box so it will fit.

Cut-out scenes or figures to make your own Holiday party invitations

Cut-out characters/figures to make name tags

Using scalloped scissors or other decorative scissor designs, cut out and add to a pre-made place card or make your own.

Puppets Show: Cut out the figures (Santa, snowmen, angels, Wise Men, trees, houses, etc.) and have children glue or tape them to Popsicle sticks (craft store) or small twigs or dowels. The kids can create their own puppets "and" plays. When everyone is finished making their puppets, the show begins with each child performing his/her play. Have everyone vote for their favorite play - but be sure to award certificates (made from recycled cards, of course) to everyone.

Cut the decorative part off the card and place next to the dinner plates on the table, setting a plain white napkin rolled over it with the silverware so you can still see the pretty picture of the card.

Give each guest a greeting card, marking pen and scissors. Each guest cuts their card into a jigsaw puzzle (square shapes work, too) and puts them inside an envelope. When everyone has finished cutting their card into puzzle pieces, they swap their envelope with someone else and puts the puzzle together. The person that assembles their puzzle first is the winner!

Confetti: Use a hole punch and punch all the colorful parts of the greeting card to make holiday or party confetti.

Recycle Bin
Donate greeting cards to paper drives

Previous Page                Next Page