It’s the busiest month of the year for the U.S. Postal Service. Last December, they delivered 16.5 billion letters, packages and cards between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve. Hard on them, but nice for the rest of us. It’s fun to receive mail that isn’t a bill or unsolicited junk, plus, every holiday card comes with two bonus gifts:

Save those beautiful cards and use them to make one-of-a-kind upcycled gift tags for next year.

Save the stamp from each envelope and you’ll have some interesting ephemera for any collage art or scrapbooking you do.

Even if these kinds of projects don’t appeal to you, I hope you’ll still consider saving these items. Most holiday cards aren’t recyclable because of the glitter and various extras that adorn them. And stamps have virtually no footprint – you could stash them in an envelope, Ziploc bag or small jewelry box, then donate them to an art teacher or your favorite creative reuse artist. (Hint: my birthday is in August and I can think of few things I’d enjoy more than receiving an envelope filled with stamps you’ve collected throughout the year!)