The Green Parent

Get out your address book, it’s time to send out your holiday greeting cards. If you are like most Americans, this is the one time of year where you send out cards to family and friends both near and far. In fact, Americans send out almost 3 billion greeting cards over the winter holidays (that’s enough cards to fill a football field ten stories high!) But holiday cards generate a mountain of wasted paper in addition to heaps of environmental pollution in their production and shipping. So this year, why not save the planet while saving yourself a fortune in time and cash and spread a little eco-cheer instead. Here’s how:

• Choose from one of the 25,000 free e-cards available from Care2. Customize one for each person on your list or send one card to everyone. Each free card you send generates donations to environmental organizations.
• Set up a holiday slideshow (complete with music or falling snowflakes) at Photobucket and email the link to family and friends. Photobucket has preset templates for Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa.
• If you simply must go with paper, look for cards printed on recycled paper (try PaperCards.com, Rossetti Designs, or KidBean.)
• Enlist your kids’ help in making cards from scratch using newspapers, magazines, and recycled holiday cards that you have around the house.