I liked holiday traditions as a kid. I LOVE them as an adult. There is something about recreating the magic my mom created when I was a kid that makes me practically giddy. We used to jump out of bed the Saturday before Easter and start searching for the Easter baskets we knew our dad had hidden. I usually found mine in a few minutes, but it always took my oldest brother a good part of an hour. He and my dad had a sort of hiding competition going on. My dad would hide his in some CRAZY places. I think the attic may have been involved one year.
Every year after we had found our simple baskets, my mom would groan when we dumped them Easter grass and all on her carpet. We would then spend the next few days picking up stray pieces of plastic Easter grass. Since commercial Easter Grass might be the most annoying product on the planet, I set out to make simple homemade alternative.
You will need:
a few sheets of colored paper
a paper shredder
The first think you need to do is accordion fold the paper with the short side of the paper. As in the picture below. Think, folding a paper fan when you were a kid.
Thread the paper through the paper shredder with the fold lines running parallel to the shredder.
After you have piles of crinkled paper, grab the paper a squish it in your fist. This will make the paper a little softer and easier to work with.
Add the paper to your Easter Baskets or anywhere else you need Easter Grass and then breath a little easier that your house is not covered in the plastic stuff. 😉
Umm, genius! Why did I never think of this? I've used shredded paper before but I never thought to just accordion fold it first. You just saved me a trip to the store!
What an amazing idea. I have never used a paper shredder in this kind of way. I have seen some gift shopkeepers using shredded papers in gifts decoration. I am an office person and I have bought an online paper shredder for such a boring (but it is necessary too) work of document shredding.
I am going to make lots this year to sell very cheep in hopes that others will begin doing this yearly. Pets can chew on the plastic bagged grass and it gets stuck in their throats and you can’t get it all out so they do not survive. I discovered this last year when I found a home for a rescue kitten. They contacted me to tell me the bad news. It hurt my heart to know this is possible with any animal. Thanks for sharing this idea!! I am super excited to get busy saving the environment and possibly a few pets lives Now all I need is a shredder.