Christmas is coming up in the next few weeks, and I’ve decided to boycott wrapping paper. I’m boycotting the hours spent sitting on the floor wrapping gifts in chemically dyed paper. I’m eschewing the hunting for the scissors that I just had in my hand when I need to cut another length needed to engulf the oversized box of the toy’s packaging. Wrapping paper usually has some form of glitter attached even when you choose the non-glittery kind. I love glitter, but it embeds itself into my carpet only to show its sparkly self for the next 15-20 years. I’m boycotting my husband complaining about the glitter for the next 15-20 years.
I’m boycotting the excessive waste that comes along with wrapping gifts. The extra paper, tape, gift tags, bows, and other decorative elements are stunning under a brightly lit tree. Still, all I see when I look at them is a mountain of trash waiting for me to tidy up after the flurry of my family opening their gifts. I’d rather not add all of the paper and plastic we used to use every year to the already overfilled landfills and add to the plastic pollution problem. I’d rather not fill my wheelie bin with more rubbish when there’s already an overfilled bag waiting in the kitchen to be thrown away. I’m boycotting the copious amounts of wine that are needed to take the edge off of my back pain after an evening of being hunched over yet another box while sitting on the living room floor. (ha!)
Santa Sacks (they’re not as dirty as they sound)
We’ve chosen to buy “Santa sacks” for my family members, plus an extra one for family gifts. These aren’t anything special. I bought four extra-large-sized canvas laundry bags and have decided to let Punky decorate them how he wishes with washable Crayola markers. This ensures that each gift bag will be available year after year. Bonus, we can decorate them any way we want for any season after a spin in the washing machine.
The decorated bags will have our names handwritten on them by my 10-year-old son instead of gift tags. Practical, yet adorable! Who has time to craft perfectly wrapped presents when nobody remembers what the wrapping looked like anyway? You could spend your time making delicious cookies and making memories with your kids instead of wrestling with paper (a fight you may or may not win).
How we’re dealing with the surprise element of unwrapping presents
You may be worried about ruining the surprise of unwrapping gifts one by one. Well, what I’ve decided is that we’re going to reach into our Santa Sacks with our eyes closed and pull out one gift at a time. Once that gift has been chosen out of the bag, you fold over the open edge to hide the rest of the bag’s contents until it is your turn again. We open presents in a round-robin fashion. One person opens a gift, and then it’s someone else’s turn until all the gifts are revealed.
Are you turning into an eco-friendly nut?
Not really, no. While I do like buying eco-friendly products because I know they’ll last longer than five minutes, this isn’t the reason for my choice this holiday season. My preference is purely out of convenience. It’s the same reason I choose to carry reusable shopping bags. I don’t have an unprecedented amount of plastic littering my home. It means I can organize things in a more manageable way than if I had a bag full of plastic bags chucked under my kitchen sink. I could store these laundry bags in the box of Christmas ornaments and stockings better than I can if it was a large cardboard tube of wrapping paper. Not everyone has the luxury of having a dedicated gift wrapping station in their home!
Types of Santa Sacks
If you don’t want to go the route of letting your kids decorate canvas laundry bags and want to have something more permanent in design, check out the ready-made Santa Sacks available on Amazon! They’re cute, functional, and ready to use right out of the box. If you like the idea of your kids decorating your Christmas wrapping, these are the bags that I bought. They’re smaller than you’d think, so you may want to buy a few more if you like to go nuts with shopping during the holidays like I do. Click on the pictures to follow the links to the products.
These are the bags I bought: Bronta Mill Plain natural 100% cotton eco-friendly drawstring/stuff bags – Size XL
Premade Santa Sacks
Alternatively, the following Santa Sacks are adorable, and I almost considered purchasing some of them myself. #5 is my favorite!
1.KEFAN 3 Pack Christmas Bag Santa Sack Canvas Bag For Gifts Santa Sack with Drawstrings Extra Large Size 70x50cm (Pattern 2)
2. Rucoe Santa Sacks Extra Large – Hessian Christmas Sacks, Christmas Bag Santa Sack Canvas Bag For Gifts Santa Sack with Drawstrings Extra Large Size 50x70cm
3. Christmas Sack Large Sacks with Drawstring Xmas Gift Bags Reusable Christmas Cotton and Linen Fabric Santa Bags for Kids Gift Candy Treats Storage (2 Pack)
4. SHATCHI Large Traditional Vintage Hessian Santa Sack Stocking Airmail Accessories Brown Xmas Christmas Gifts Bag 70 x 50cm, Multi
5. Dyefor PERSONALISED CHRISTMAS SANTA SACK COTTON CUSTOMISED XMAS PRESENT SACKS – SCANDINAVIAN NORDIC PATTERN– LARGE
2020 has been a terrible year for everyone. Whether you choose to boycott wrapping paper or go more traditional, there’s no judgment here. Everyone needs to grab as much joy as they can from this year as they can.
There will be many more Christmas themed posts coming up. Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year, and I can’t contain my excitement!
Have a great day today, and make good choices wherever you go. See you next time!