Repurpose Broken Christmas Ornaments
Oops, there went another string of Christmas lights — in the trash bin it goes. Wait! While it may seem logical to throw away broken Christmas decorations, it’s actually quite wasteful. I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “What else am I supposed to do with them?”. Well, I’m glad you asked because believe it or not, there are thousands of ways to repurpose broken Christmas decorations.
Use Broken Strings of Lights for Crafts
Instead of tossing that string of lights in the trash, carefully remove the bulbs and use them to make crafts. A fun idea is to bunch three of bulbs together with jewelry wire and then add earring hooks to create a festive pair of earrings. Whatever you use them for, Christmas lights are a great way to add a bit of cheer to your crafts and best of all, they’re free.
Create a Mosaic With Broken Glass Ornaments
It never fails to happen. Each year, you break at least one glass ornament. Instead of sweeping the pieces into the trash, save the pieces to use in a mosaic. If the ornaments were made with colored glass, you might even want to make the pieces into a coarse powder and mix into the mortar that will be spread onto the rest of the mosaic.
Melt Down Candles and Make New Ones
Candles that have been burned down to the bottom aren’t exactly attractive, but that’s no reason to toss them in the trash. Those lovely scented candles, and their festive candle holders, can be repurposed. Simply remove the leftover wax from the containers, chop them into fine pieces and melt them on the stove top in an old pot that you don’t plan to use for anything but crafts. Once melted, place new wicks in the bottoms of the candle holders and carefully poor on the wax. You might even want to use new candle holders you create yourself with other broken decorations.
As you can see there’s no reason to throw away those broken, or overly used, Christmas decorations. They can easily be repurposed to create a new decoration or even a pair of festive earrings. Think before you toss and be a little creative. After all, when you repurpose something, you contribute less to our ever-growing landfills.