You have heard of white elephants and we all have them, but the real question is how to recycle them. Throwing an unwanted gift away is not just plain bad manners; it is downright wrong. The landfills are overflowing with legitimate trash but the gift is not trash; it is simply not something you desire. Cycle unwanted gifts back into the gift pool. Be creative, have fun and recycle your gifts this season.
Re-gifting Party
Have a re-gifting party this holiday season. Everyone must bring one gift, wrapped and identified as a gender neutral, male or female gift. Further separate into other categories such as kitchen items, bath items, jewelry and so on. Collect the gifts as the guests arrive and place on a table. Each guest will later choose one gift. A great party game is to have each guest guess what it might be and from whom. The stories here can get pretty outlandish. Great fun and no one spends any money.
Have a Black Friday Sale
Place ads in the local paper or online for a Black Friday Sale. Plan this event way in advance to assure plenty of opportunity for shoppers to include your special sale on their shopping agendas. Collect all the new and unwanted gifts you have been storing in the hall closet for the last several years. Plan to be up early, serve coffee and be prepared. The economy has shoppers looking for the best deals. Don’t be shy about publicizing your sale; put some super deal details in your ad and think like the large retailers. Market your sale for maximum traffic. One family, who was moving shortly after the holidays, planned a Black Friday Yard Sale. They were well organized and very well attended. They sold not only their unwanted gifts but also new and nearly new household and clothing items, including books and DVDs. They netted over $2,100 in less than six hours. However, that is not the half of it. The items they didn’t have to pack saved them another $550 on the moving company’s overall bill. Twelve hours of planning, pricing and organizing netted one family $2,650.
Clothing Exchange
A clothing exchange party gives a whole new meaning to shopping in your girlfriend’s closet. It’s a great way to get your girlfriends together and have fun. Set the mood for your event, choose a great music CD, have fun finger food and several bottles of wine or sparkling cider. Set up a clothing rack in your living room and as each guest arrives she places her new and nearly new unwanted clothing gifts on the rack. A little mood music, a little bargain basement shopping and voila, an instant fashion show. Each guest has to model at least one newly acquired item!
Sell your unwanted CDs online
Another idea to find a new purpose for your unwelcome gifts comes from the services of Music Magpie. All you have to do is enter or scan the barcode of your CDs, DVD or even games and proceed to the check out. A nice and simple way to get rid of those annoying tunes while make that extra money that you need.
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