Time to call it a wrap for wrapping paper?
Some dream of a 'green Christmas' without the gift wrap, while others can't give up the element of surprise it brings.
By Caitlin Carpenter | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the December 20, 2007 edition
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After her husband opened an environmentally friendly restaurant last year in Boston, Heather Lionette began thinking about ways to help the environment at home. With the holiday season in full swing, Ms. Lionette recalled the huge number of garbage bags that pile up along her street during the holidays, filled with mounds of wrapping paper, ribbon, boxes, and cards.
This year, many green folk will opt for alternatives to wrapping paper, such as reusable fabric covers or old newspapers. A smaller number, including Lionette, are taking this waste-reducing idea a step further: They're not wrapping gifts at all.
"Between opening the restaurant and Al Gore's movie," Lionette says, "in the past year or so I've really been thinking more about how to cut waste out of my life. When I started to think about it, wrapping paper is such a waste and doesn't really serve an important purpose."
While environmentalists say eliminating wrapping paper foreshadows Christmases to come, others wonder if these eco-Scrooges are cutting back on important holiday decorum.
Americans generate 25 percent more trash than normal between Thanksgiving and Christmas, says Jennifer Hattam of the Sierra Club. Although there's no way to know how much of that excess is related to gift wrapping, she suspects that a lot of it is.
Even if it eliminates a few trash-filled garbage bags, it's not worth it if it ruins the spirit of Christmas, says Anna Post, the great-great-granddaughter of famed etiquette guru Emily Post.
"We need to respect this tradition," she says. "Christmas isn't just about the presents on that one day; it's about the anticipation and sense of momentum. People don't know what they're getting for a reason: It creates a special moment between the giver and receiver. If the gift is sitting right out there, then there's no 'moment.' "
But her argument doesn't ring true for Bob Lilienfeld, author of "Use Less Stuff." "Wrapping paper for the typical child is just an impediment to getting what is underneath," he says. "There's no need for fancy bows and expensive paper for kids."
Even for adults, the packaging is not as important as the present, he says. "We're not in Japan, where what the gift comes in is as important as what's underneath. The only exception here is the Tiffany's box, I guess," he muses.
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