Five Newspaper Crafts to Help You Reuse before You Recycle

newspaper hatAs good as I feel about supporting the newspaper industry with my subscription, those good feelings are completely eliminated by the night before Recycling Day, when my partner and I put our huge stack of newspapers out on the curb.

What a waste of all that valuable crafting material!

Before I send my recycling materials out to be remade (a process that, while better than nothing, still requires even more energy and materials resources to perform), I often like to repurpose them back into our family’s life for a little while longer. Whether my kiddos make themselves a giant robot toy out of our empty juice bottles, and throw those bottles back in the plastics bin when they’re tired of their toy, or we all use up an afternoon to make a paper mache pinata that gets dumped into the paper bin after the party is over, there are loads of ways to make recyclables work for you just a little while longer. Here’s how to stretch out your newspaper stash:

1. Newspaper hats. You can paint them, embellish them with rhinestones or flowers, or just fold them any of four dozen ways. Goodbye, boredom!

2. Newspaper bunting. Buntings are uber-trendy right now, and this particular bunting project from Maya*Made transforms the newspaper so completely that you’ll never be able to tell what it is.

3. Newspaper pinata. Here’s that newspaper pinata that I was telling you about, courtesy of ikat bag.

4. Newspaper wreath. This wreath, from Filth Wizardry, uses green crepe paper over the newspaper form, but just like the hats or the bunting project, these wreaths could be embellished with whatever your heart desires. Festive!

5. Painted newspaper roses. Dip them in glitter!

What amazing crafts do you do using newspaper?

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