Wow! That's what your friends and family will say when they see your Christmas presents this year. They will be impressed with the wrappings and with the fact that you used items you could easily have thrown out to make your gifts sensational instead.

As impressed as they will be, however, you will be the one laughing - if not all the way to the bank, at least to your friends' house - as you think about the way you've used your creativity to save time and money and create a 'Waste Work of Art'. Well, since Christmas is almost here, let's get started on making your exciting, bright and colourful gift-wrapping paper.

To make your 'Wow Waste' gift-wrapping paper, you will need some creativity and items you may have around the house. You will also need poster paint and some glitter dust, which you can find in book stores and pharmacies. If you don't have poster paints, use colourful pictures from magazines as well as fabric, dried leaves, beads, etc, for decoration.

Here's what you need:

● Old newspapers

● Poster paints - colour(s) of your choice

● Glitter - gold, silver or any colour(s) of your choice

● Dried leaves, fabric, beads or any items of waste around the house which can decorate your paper or be used to make patterns

● Paper/fabric glue.

To make your 'Wow Waste' wrapping paper, make your designs on the wrapping paper. You can use bottle caps and empty containers to make circles, your hands to make handprints or leaves to make patterns. Colour them with the poster paints of your choice. Add the glitter and decorations and hang on a flat surface to dry. When dry, remove and use them to wrap your gifts.

Use smaller newspaper sheets (the Star) for smaller gifts and larger sheets for bigger gifts. With these pretty sheets of wrapping paper you can use empty carton boxes to wrap gifts very attractively. Where possible, re-use empty boxes and shredded paper to package gifts.

If you started using your green waste wisely, by now you may have healthy seedlings from your favourite fruits or vegetables. You can give these as gifts as well to friends. Put them in a plant pot, gift-wrap them with your 'Wow Waste' wrapping paper and create some smiles. Happy Christmas!

Ann Marie Rodriques

PeaceWater Services

Send questions or comments to peacewater services@yahoo.com