Recycle, eh

You don't have to spend a fortune to create sparkle and shine to your New Year's Eve decorating.  For under $20. or less of stuff you can buy at your local grocery store and a little recycling, you can have all the glamour and glitz you want. See my Ottawa Citizen article for how you can do it.

In the article, I used new paper napkins, but iIf you have any leftover gift wrapping or paper napkins, use those rather than buying more.

Oh, I know, Christmas hasn't even happened yet and I'm blathering on about New Year's eve. Well, once Christmas is over, how are you going to keep the kids busy? And if you're skint now from all that heavy-duty Christmas shopping, wouldn't it be nice to know that you can save time and money with home-made New Year's eve decorations?

What's in your recycle bin?

Before starting on your decorations, take a gander around the house to round up anything you can recycle into decorations for your party table. Check your recycling bins for cardboard tubes from gift-wrapping or paper towels. Also see if you’ve got any leftover Christmas gift-wrap, paper napkins, ribbons, and tape.

What You Can Make from your Recycling Bin

Streamers, party poppers (i.e., crackers), noisemakers, blowers, hats, and favours can all merge from your recycling bin. Here are a few sites with instructions on how to make any or all of these decorations.

Martha's Offerings:

How to make party blowers

How to make party hats

How to make favours

Better Homes and Gardens:

How to make party poppers

How to make noisemakers

Other:

How to make a paper crown hat

A Word About Balloons

Balloons are a big part of New Year’s festivities and are a very cheap way to decorate your home for the big party. Look for latex balloons that are coloured with water-based inks. Blow them up with a balloon or bicycle pump. Once the balloons are popped, gather up all the bits and pieces and recycle them in your compost.

Ciao for now.