Jillian's Wellness Team

Caroline Howell

Caroline Howell is a Green Home and Lifestyle Consultant, whose business, GreenBeanie™ Inc., is headquartered in Pasadena, California. Caroline founded her company to formalize the advice she was sharing with friends and family about green living, including habits and routines that are better for your health, the health of those around you, and the planet.

To learn more about Caroline Howell, visit her Web site: www.greenbeanie.net

Wrapping up the Holidays, Green Style

So you want to wrap your holiday gifts with fancy ribbons and gorgeous wrapping paper within a recession-friendly budget and while keeping the environment in mind? Don’t stress and don’t run another errand to get your presents wrapped. Put on your thinking cap and learn the art of wrapping green by using what you already have:

- Reusable paper bags. Whether Christmas themed or plain, ol’ brown, reusable paper bags are a great and easy way to wrap your gifts this season. Toss in your gift, maybe some old shredded paper, add a bow and voila!

- Newspaper, old magazines, all that junk mail! Is your friend a penny-pincher? Wrap their gift in junk mail coupons! Or use articles and ads featuring your recipient’s favorite celebrity or news features. Kids will love receiving gifts wrapped in the Sunday comics!

- Outdated maps, posters, and calendars - No longer a fan of that 80's band whose poster you have rolled up in storage? About to throw away all the 2009 calendars in your house? Use them as gift wrap for a one-of-a-kind, reusable look! Gather any other papers lying around your house and about to go into the recycling bin and wrap your gifts in them!

- Fabric – You can use old fabric from that pillow you never started or from that beautiful roll on sale at the fabric store. It’s more durable than wrapping paper and you can encourage your recipient to reuse to fabric either as a cloth napkin or as gift wrap next year!

- Reusable tote bags – Reusable totes are everywhere and being sold at the cheapest prices. Have a friend who still insists on plastic bags? Wrap their gift in a reusable tote or checkout the Baggu reusable bag: it holds up to 50 lbs and is easy to use as gift wrap.

- Food jars & boxes - Instead of throwing out your empty cereal box or the jar from last night’s pasta sauce, put your gift in there, close the box, and wrap it in some ribbon!

- Your children’s masterpieces – Cut open grocery store paper bags or department store bags, wrap your gift with the blank side facing out, and let your kids be O’Keefe or Picasso and decorate the box. They can decorate with stamps, stickers, markers or soy crayons.

- Bows and more – Get creative with the bows by curling newspaper or sewing together ribbon scraps. Gather pine cones or leaves from your backyard and add them to the gift for a beautiful, natural touch!

Have a very merry holiday!