As the holiday season comes to a close, you are left with empty chocolate and gift boxes, tons of tinsel garland and countless number of Christmas cards from those near and far. You may be tempted to throw all of these in the trash ... but HOLD UP! These can be converted into very useful day to day items long after the holidays have passed. Here's how:
1) Thank you Ferrero Rocher for giving me both treats and TRAYS! Ferrero Rocher is the way to my holiday heart, but I love that these boxes can be repurposed as trays (hence they are also the way to my organizing heart). Simply remove the outer label, separate the top lid from the bottom and remove the inside packaging. I've used them in my kitchen to store my every day oils and seasonings, in my master bathroom to organize my hair products and in my study to arrange my stationary and office supplies.
You don't have to limit yourself to Ferreros. There are plenty of gift boxes that can be used to store and organize on the daily. I house all of my winter scarves, hats and mittens in this old biscuit box. I also use these to store my old photos, random knick knacks in my closet and empty jewelry boxes. The possibilities are really endless.
2) I don't know about you, but I spend quite a bit of time at UPS, either returning packages back to the store or sending packages to various friends and family for holidays, birthdays and various celebrations. Instead of packing these gifts with store bought bubble wrap or styrofoam, consider using an old worn out tinsel garland instead. Tinsel is quite the shock absorber and has an amazing way of conforming to and protecting an object. It totally fits the bill as a gift filler/protector, because its shiny, it screams celebration and makes sure your items don't get all bent out of shape. Even if you don't send packages, you could use tinsel around the house. Tuck in some tinsel to safe keep your grandmother's china, your glass Christmas ornaments or other fragile items.
3) I once read a statistic that 2.65 billion Christmas cards are sold each year in the U.S. only and all of these could fill a football field 10 stories high. Now this statistic will never stop me from sending or receiving Christmas cards, but it does make me want to think of ways to repurpose them. I usually store all of the old Christmas cards I've received from close family and friends in a (you guessed it) old chocolate box, but I like to reuse the random Christmas cards (like the ones from an insurance company, a neighbor we no longer are in touch with or the dentist) as gift tags. If you take the front of the card and cut it into fours, it will leave you with a beautiful Christmas motif. Hole punch the top, string a piece of ribbon through and you've got some beautiful gift tags to use next year! I try to make these tags as the season closes and store them with my Christmas decor to use the following year.
There you have it friends! A few ways to convert some of that Christmas "trash" into daily items. If you find these helpful or have other ideas to share, I would love to hear from you! Leave me a comment below, tag me in your Instagram photo using #thisissimplicite or email me.
With much love,
Mansa