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I know, I know, “You can’t believe everything you read these days”. Could this article really be true though: for Christmas 2008, Katie Homes and Tom Cruise spent $6,000 on wrapping paper?

Actually, I’m not at all interested in what they spent; lets face it, $6,000 to the star couple is probably more like $60 for us ‘everyday’ people. And, $60 is roughly what it costs for fancy paper and embellishments. I am interested in how many kilograms of paper that bought them though.

If the report was true, did they at least use recycled paper? I’d love to ask them myself if it wasn’t impossible to contact them!

I know celebrities are just somewhat ‘normal’ people. With all that potential to influence though, it would be nice to see them lead the way and at least try to go a little green at Christmas. They wouldn’t need to compromise on their image either- it’s not like the only green options are newspaper these days!

Balancing time is always a challenge – I don’t think it matters who you are or what you do, one of the biggest dangers of doing something you enjoy is getting so involved that you totally lose track of time.

I think that’s one of the reasons I’m so impressed with Tania McCartney; not only is she an editor at Australian Women Online (one of Australia’s largest websites devoted to professional women) and the administrator of a Book Club, but she’s also just about to launch her latest book in Australia! Her ability to balance her workload with her family (while moving internationally!) is impressive, to say the least.

It’s also one of the reasons I was so happy to do a Q&A session with her on why I started my business and the challenges I’ve faced so far. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from running my own business, it’s that knowing that other people have faced and overcome similar time management problems and it makes it that much easier to chase an idea. And, equally as important, that many others also care about reducing our impact on our environment.

Do have a read – as a special offer to Australian Women Online readers, we’ve given them a discount for 5% off all TreasureBag orders through to Christmas Eve. The code is in the article, so please do take advantage of it.

My morning ritual is pretty consistent: I wake up, I read a mountain of books with my two year old, and then I catch up on what’s happened overnight. This morning, I read an article about being ‘green’ this Christmas – among other things, the author suggested that newspaper was the wrapping of choice this year (there was of course an inspiring picture to demonstrate just how ‘creative’ you could be with newspaper). The author went on to suggest that last year’s wrapping paper, or even our kids’ paintings might be used instead.

Painting as wrapping?

It’s not like these are bad suggestions, but all I can think about is how unhappy I’d be in practice. Yes it’s better to reuse paper, but it’s still paper! I don’t know what you think, but the idea of seeing my gifts wrapped in re-used, creased paper doesn’t exactly excite. The thought of using my children’s paintings is even more bizarre – I don’t want to see my kid’s paintings torn and thrown out. Wrapping my colleague’s presents in newspaper isn’t even worth considering. I mean, seriously – newspaper?!

Being green is important to me, but these ‘eco-friendly’ wrapping ideas just aren’t appealing. And, to be frank, I don’t think I’m alone in this; I have yet to receive gifts wrapped in newspaper (!) or last year’s wrapping paper.

So, every Christmas we go on to use another 4 million kilograms of paper. That paper’s been milled, pulped, bleached, dyed, wrapped in plastic for distribution, and then boxed in additional packaging to deliver it to stores before it’s whipped off the shelf for a moment’s pleasure. And, we can’t kid ourselves here: newspaper and our kid’s paintings still contribute, as do waxy ribbons, sticky labels and the metallic trimmings we use to ‘dress’ up’ otherwise greener options. To me, that all adds up to an enormous amount of needless waste.

But, given the choices when it comes to greener options, I can appreciate why people don’t widely adopt the more planet friendly way and instead buy disposable wrapping paper – it’s pretty obvious that we like our presents to look attractive. And, once we throw it all in the bin we don’t need to think about the waste we just created or the energy used. It’s all too easy to just go out and buy something shiny!

So, while I complain that seasonal articles are filled with uninspiring ideas, I can’t completely knock them; at least someone’s thinking about the problem. I think if we’re ever to see a real ‘Green Christmas’, we need to be more conscious of eco-friendly wrapping ideas that don’t compromise on how our gifts look.  And, thinking will lead to doing something eventually. I just hope that as we have come to recognise that plastic shopping bags are largely unnecessary, we’ll eventually realise that there are better ways to wrap and present our gifts.

I guess we launched a little while ago…boy, that was fun! When can I launch again?

Here’s where you can find us (when we’re not here anyway):  TreasureBags