How To Recycle Greeting Cards - Let's Do Some Upcycling & Turn Trash To Treasure!

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If you want to learn how to recycle greeting cards, then you've come to the right place! I love upcycling or finding new uses for old things and turning trash to treasure.

Below you'll find step-by-step instructions with photos demonstrating how to reuse greeting cards in a new way...as gift tags.

You can use the upcycle process outlined below for any type of card - birthday cards, holiday cards, baby announcements, save the dates, postcards, anything!

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1. Gather the materials. You'll need a pair of scissors, a plastic bag that closes (i.e. Ziploc) and the greeting cards you wish to recycle.

As you can see in the above photo, we had a whole stack of leftover holiday cards. Instead of just pitching them, I decided to upcycle them as gift tags and get even more use out of them!

2. Cut your card. Cut out sections of the card that are free from handwriting, dates and any other content that is not suitable for reuse.

As you can see in the above photo, I cut off a part of the card that is decorative and has nothing on the back of it.

3. Address it. You now have a beautiful gift tag, so write the recipient's name on it and voila!

4. Punch it or stick it. You have options for adhering your new gift tag to a present. Put some adhesive on the back and stick it to a wrapped gift. For gift bags, you can punch a hole and tie it to the bag's handle with a piece of ribbon or string.

5. Put them away. Store the remaining gift tags in a plastic baggie and put them with your gift wrap. Next time you wrap a present, you'll have everything you need.