We held our second Eco-Friendly Wrapping Paper Making Workshop at the fabulous Tag Along Toys on Sunday. Participants decorated gift bags, craft paper and newspaper to be added as gift wrapping options to the store’s free gift wrapping service. Patti, the owner of Tag Along Toys, and I started this weekly workshop after learning that not all wrapping paper is recyclable. Patti still wanted to be able to offer free wrapping, but wanted to create options that were more eco-friendly for her customers. And, of course, I wanted to get the kids involved in this amazing initiative.
While decorating the wrapping options, we had so many amazing conversations with the kids. We talked about the fact that the gift bags are great because they are made from 100% recycled paper, so no trees were cut down to make the bags. We talked about how colouring on newspaper and using that to wrap is even better because you are re-purposing the material – the paper was already made in order to be used for the newspaper, and now we are using it a second time to wrap presents before it is recycled. This is an important thing to think about – finding ways to re-purpose items, rather than just recycle.
We had a lovely young lady come in and decorate a bag for the gift that she was buying for her friend’s birthday. She was so excited to do this!
This workshop will be happening every Sunday at Tag Along Toys from 12:00 to 2:00. Come join us for some fun, friendship, laughter and a chance to teach our children that they have the power to change the world now – not just in the future – but right now. By talking to our kids about the need to reduce and re-purpose in order to save our planet, and then providing them with an action they can take to do just that, we will help them to become confident, engaged, passionate, inspired leaders and decision makers. Rather than what we are seeing a lot of lately, which is youth who are anxious, apathetic, disengaged and depressed because the world seems overwhelmingly bad and they don’t know how they can fit into the solution.
Here are some more photos of the fun we had ….
And you can purchase our book, “Plant a Garden of Kindness”, at Tag Along Toys – as modeled by these goofballs. For more info on our book, click here.
And click here for the Facebook event page for next week’s workshop! We would love to see you there.