For many, the holidays can be a stressful time that often puts our focus on material things, but the Reclaim Your Holidays program encourages us to consume less and enjoy the season with friends and family.

Reclaim Your Holidays, a project created by Susan Salterberg and Carole Yates at  University of Northern Iowa's Center for Energy & Environmental Education, challenges everyone to "green" their gift giving and entertain more sustainably.

"The most important thing is that the research shows and our hearts confirm that what matters to most of us are the relationships and time to pursue interests once our basic needs are met," says Reclaim Your Holidays program manager Carole Yates. "Holidays can get us stressed out, and we spend money on things that don't make us happy. Reclaim Your Holidays is about focusing on the things that matter, creating memories, and deepening our connections with family and friends. An added bonus is how consuming less or differently may be kinder to the environment."

Since its 2010 launch, communities across Iowa have been participating in the project. Yates and program manager Susan Salterberg have trained 40 educators, such as naturalists, librarians, and congregational members, to personalize the Reclaim Your Holidays resources for their communities and for individuals.

"If somebody loves to wrap gifts, and that's a really important thing for them, if that gives them joy and meaning, then that's great," Yates says. "It's thinking about what works for you." For Yates, that means wrapping gifts in cloth or newspaper. "Anybody can reclaim their holidays," she adds.

Jennifer Jordan, City of Iowa City Recycling Coordinator, has partnered with the project in the past through ECO Iowa City. Last November, the organization hosted three different Reclaim Your Holidays events—"Take Back Your Holiday Joy," "Get Your ECO Going This Holiday Season," and a homemade gift workshop—attracting 34 community members. This year, the City of Iowa City is hosting another holiday farmer's market, which encourages locally-sourced gifts.

Conventional consumerist gift-giving isn't the most sustainable way to respond to the holidays, says Liz Christiansen, director of the University of Iowa Office of Sustainability. She believes that unwanted or unneeded gifts burden family and friends, adding more clutter to already cluttered lives. "Spending time with loved ones, doing for others, giving to organizations who help people, animals or our planet – these are ways to celebrate the spirit of love behind the holidays," she says.

The Office of Sustainability encourages students, faculty, and staff to reclaim this holiday season, while reducing waste and thinking about the environment. Below are several practical ideas put together by UNI's Center for Energy & Environmental Education.

   Creative gift ideas

• gifts for kids
• gifts of experience
• Iowa-made and farmers market gifts
• second-hand gifts
• "green" gifts
• gifts of charity donations

Green entertaining and waste reduction

• "green" get-togethers
• Iowa-grown meals
• "green" decorating
• recycling throughout the holidays
• re-focusing entertainment around games and activities
• recycling your Christmas tree

More links

Learn more about the Reclaim Your Holidays project here and follow them on Facebook.

Follow this link for tips from UI LiveWELL about managing holiday stress.

Listen to Yates and Salterberg discuss reclaiming the holidays with other Iowans on an Iowa Public Radio 2013 Talk of Iowa segment.

Reclaim Your Holidays is supported with grant funds from the Resource Enhancement and Protection Conservation Education Program and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Solid Waste Alternatives Program.

Take your first step to reclaiming your time and making the most of the holiday season. The University of Iowa Learning and Development, a unit of Organizational Effectiveness, is hosting four sessions to help you make the most of your time by avoiding stress, being a mindful consumer of energy and avoiding waste, creating a plan to help you navigate this busy time of year, and wrapping up in January with a session to assess your efforts.

1. Minimize Stress—Maximize Meaning November 3, 2010 - 12:05 pm - 12:55 pm
2. Practical Tips to Help you Reclaim—and Green—Your Holidays November 12, 2010 - 12:05 pm - 12:55 pm
3. Make a Plan November 29, 2010 - 12:05 pm - 12:55 pm
4. Assessing Your Efforts—What Worked, and What Didn’t? - January 7, 2011 - 12:05 pm - 12:55 pm

Register for one or all of the workshops. However, the workshops will build on each other, so it will be most valuable to those who commit to attending the entire group of four sessions. http://www.uiowa.edu/learn/holidays.html

Reclaim Your Holidays is sponsored by The University of Iowa Office of Sustainability, University of Northern Iowa Center for Energy & Environmental Education, Iowa State University Extension, Iowa City Public Library, and the Iowa City Landfill & Recycling Center. The sessions are funded in part by the Resource Enhancement and Protection Conservation Education Program and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Solid Waste Alternatives Program.