It's that time of year again - wrapping paper, packaging and consumerism abound, setting off my unsustainable alarm bells.  To soothe them back to charming jingles, check this awesome list of everyday items repurposed for the holidays plus creative uses for holiday-themed goods.  My favorite is creating a table runner out of last year's holiday cards - gives you the opportunity to revive the memories while creating new ones.

New Uses for Christmas Items

Happy Holidays, everyone, and Best Wishes for the New Year!

What do you get when you cross elegant table linens with regular kitchen paper towels?  MYdrap, a convenient way to dress up your table with individual cocktail napkins, lunch or dinner napkins and placemats that come right off the roll, perforated for easy dispensing.  But don't throw them away just yet -- each piece is washable and reusable up to six times!

Made from 100% cotton fibers, this recyclable, biodegradable and reusable product is the sustainable bees knees for dinner table presto-change-o.  And, they've been making this quality product for nearly a hundred years in different forms. 

Where do wine barrels go at the end of their lifespan?  People have been using reclaimed wine barrel wood for years, but not in such a stylish way - as a tabletop or bartop lazy server.

Chris Deffenbaugh from Wooster, Ohio hand-refurbishes each 22-inch oak barrel top, preserving the original wine maker’s markings and all the colorful, textured evidence of the barrelhead’s previous life.

My family was ahead of the eco-friendly trend when it came to wrapping paper. In the 80s, we wrapped the lids and bottoms of boxes separately with our favorite paper, allowing us to re-use year after year with just a fresh ribbon (and sometimes even a reused one!) In the 90s, we made or purchased fabric gift bags with drawstring ribbons that allow for easy access. Not only are these ideas simple and reduce wrapping waste and stress, but they have also become beloved holiday memories themselves: who will receive the Snoopy box or the snowman bag this year? You can even hold a craft-party with friends and family to make your boxes and bags out of scraps from your other projects!

Here's another great holiday idea that holds up year-round:

Dining by Design Nov 18, 2009 - overlooking the main floor,
San Francisco Design Center Galleria

While I applaud the goal of charitable events, particularly Diffa's Dining by Design yearly event held in 7 American cities to raise money for AIDS research, it would be laudable to see an emphasis on sustainability alongside charity.

This was my second year of involvement with DBD in San Francisco.  In 2008, I ran the coat check booth but was not involved with the design or installation of my school's vignette (I attend Academy of Art University, see my profile for more detail).  This year I was only able to help out with the installation for a short time but I find it rewarding to get a behind-the-scenes peek into what it takes to create and install a beautiful space in just 24 hours.  (Yes, each mirrored piece on the wall in the photo below was painstakingly placed by a team including yours truly.)