BY JULIETTE FRADIN

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A festive way to reuse your grocery bags  Photo credit: Juliette Fradin Photography

The holidays are certainly a time for extravaganza and excess. Unfortunately, it’s also a time for excess waste that includes food, shopping bags, bows, ribbons, wrapping paper, holiday decor, lights and so on. 

Once the holiday season hits, I like making decorations with my kids to turn our everyday house into a festive home. Reusing what we have on hand eliminates the need to go out and buy new stuff — and it frees up storage space. Reusing what you already have is one of the best ways to cut waste. 

Despite my conscientious use of tote bags, a number of paper grocery bags shuffle their way into my house (bonus tip: Ask the cashier to not double the bags.). This year, I enlisted these interlopers to make a giant paper bag star. It’s a simple and free decoration that even the littles can help with. 

MATERIALS

  • 5-6 grocery paper bags
  • glue  (hot glue gun, Elmer’s, glue stick, etc.)
  • regular scissors (or pinking shears — zig zag scissors — if you’re fancy) 
  • hole punch
  • twine

 

 INSTRUCTIONS (see the visual step-by-step guide below from Juliette Fradin Photography)

  1. Remove grocery bag handles. 
  2. Lay the bags flat, with the unfolded side facing up. 
  3. Add a T-shape line of glue to a paper bag, then lay the next bag on top. Repeat this step for 5 more bags. Make sure to face the bags all the same way when you are gluing them together.
  4. Once you have all the bags glued together, use the scissors to cut the tops of bags off, forming a point (or whatever shape you want). Cut small triangles or other shapes into the sides of bags to create designs if desired. Because the bags are difficult to cut through, consider making two stacks of glued bags, cutting as desired, then gluing the two cut stacks together.
  5. Once your design is finished, open the bags and glue the last two paper bags together. This last section really needs some good holding and pressure (at least 10-20 seconds) to ensure the glue sticks.
  6. Punch or cut a hole in the top and pull a piece of twine (or fishing line, ribbon, etc.) through it to hold the star. You can use a small hook as an anchor, but as the stars are lightweight, even masking tape should work. And voilà!
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1. Remove grocery bag handles.
1. Remove grocery bag handles.
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3. Add a T-shape line of glue to a paper bag, then lay the next bag on top. Repeat this step for 5 more bags. Make sure to face the bags all the same way when you are gluing them together.
3. Add a T-shape line of glue to a paper bag, then lay the next bag on top. Repeat this step for 5 more bags. Make sure to face the bags all the same way when you are gluing them together.
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4. Once you have all the bags glued together, use the scissors to cut the tops of bags off, forming a point (or whatever shape you want). Cut small triangles or other shapes into the sides of bags to create designs if desired. Because the bags are difficult to cut through, consider making two stacks of glued bags, cutting as desired, then gluing the two cut stacks together.
4. Once you have all the bags glued together, use the scissors to cut the tops of bags off, forming a point (or whatever shape you want). Cut small triangles or other shapes into the sides of bags to create designs if desired. Because the bags are difficult to cut through, consider making two stacks of glued bags, cutting as desired, then gluing the two cut stacks together.
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5. Once your design is finished, open the bags and glue the last two paper bags together. This last section really needs some good holding and pressure (at least 10-20 seconds) to ensure the glue sticks.
5. Once your design is finished, open the bags and glue the last two paper bags together. This last section really needs some good holding and pressure (at least 10-20 seconds) to ensure the glue sticks.
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6. Punch or cut a hole in the top and pull a piece of twine (or fishing line, ribbon, etc.) through it to hold the star. You can use a small hook as an anchor, but as the stars are lightweight, even masking tape should work. And voilà!
6. Punch or cut a hole in the top and pull a piece of twine (or fishing line, ribbon, etc.) through it to hold the star. You can use a small hook as an anchor, but as the stars are lightweight, even masking tape should work. And voilà!
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TIPS AND VARIATIONS

Have your kids paint the sides of the paper bags or use markers to decorate them. 

Consider using other sizes, like regular lunch paper bags (use 7-8 bags) or even smaller bags (use a dozen). You can also find colored paper bags. 

Don’t compost stars made with hot gun glue, as the glue is not biodegradable. For bags made with Elmer’s glue, compost away!

May your holidays be full of stars — and not of waste!