5 Ways to Reuse a Mylar Balloon

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Hiya! TGIF!!!

Last week, the eco tot came home with this Mylar balloon. Apparently, one of the personnel from Vons grocery store was taking down holiday inventory and gave it to him (he was with grandma). I wanted to cringe when I saw it! I’m not fond of them because they don’t break down easily. Which as you know is bad for the planet!  Tons of them get tossed into the trash and end up in landfills to sit and rot for a LONG time.

We always try to follow the REDUCE, REUSE & RECYCLE hierarchy whenever possible…

But, after tossing the Crayola markers and a comment left from Evergreen; I vowed to look at the 3R’s hierarchy more often and consider the REUSE rule more patiently and carefully.

So, I looked at the shiny Mylar balloon sitting in our living room beginning to deflate and thought about it’s second life, maybe even third, perhaps; fourth.

AND

Here’s what I came up with!

5 WAYS TO REUSE A MYLAR BALLOON:

1. Reflate it! Mylar balloons can be properly deflated and used again. Your local party store may or may not properly deflate your balloon. The trick is to keep the valve inside the balloon intact. If you’re feeling tricky and think you can do it yourself … check out these instructions. Seems easy enough!

2. Use it as gift wrap. Turn it inside out or use as is!

3. Cut up into long strips and use as stuffing. Put into easter baskets, gift bags, shipping boxes etc.

4. Save for  scrapbooking, decoupage, or a craft project. Cut out letters & shapes, etc.

5. Turn it into a pinata (my favorite idea) !! The eco tot’s 3rd birthday is on the way (I’m already scheming on ideas). Last year, we attempted to reuse a latex balloon. Things would’ve been fine except  that it popped by accident (our fault). Just fill balloon up with your little ones favorite treats; preferably eco friendly ones and secure bottom- then hang with some twine. Instant pinata!

The balloon also has a clip (weight) attached to it. I plan to reuse it as a “chip clip”. Even though, I don’t normally buy chips they come in handy for securing other miscellaneous items.

Do you have any suggestions? What have you done in the past with these metallic celebratory messages?

Have a great weekend.

Summary of Summer

Hey guys! Happy 09-09-09!  Still around. Database crashed and I wasn’t able to get to it until last night. Sorry about that!!

We had a jam packed weekend full of fun!

We took Tristan bowling and I even wore Clark for part of it. Don’t worry, I played it safe… & Tristan had a ball… LOL!

And as a last consolation for the summer and because our  membership is going to expire at the end of the month; we went to the zoo!

We BBQ’d yesterday at my in laws. I made a nice spinach salad and the neighbors actually made a raw dish! I was so impressed. It was a zucchini salad with lemon zest and sun dried tomatoes. Yum, yum!

This summer I’ve tried a few raw dishes and some new cooked ones. Our garden didn’t do as well as we’d hoped. This is the first year in five years that we’ve planted a garden and have not had much of a harvest. The insane high temps killed most of our plants or slowed their growth. We normally have tons and tons of tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and peppers.  We hardly had any harvest of what we planted.  It was a bit discouraging but also part of gardening and the challenges you face. We’re determined to research some of the challenges through winter in hopes of a more successful garden next year. Hopefully, we  master composting by then and are able to provide the much needed nutrients we were possibly lacking and time of all things.  Thankfully, my mother in laws garden was flourishing because we’ve been eating some of her bounty.

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Upcycled Finds

Photo by: Chrisbb

It’s Friday, so why not feature a few upcycled finds!!

Check it out Wikipedia has the definition of upcycled…

“Upcycling is a component of sustainability in which waste materials are used to provide new products. It is generally a reinvestment in the environment. ”

Let’s begin this week’s feature’s!

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