A use for everything

Tis the season to recycle
The Timaru Herald | Friday, 22 December 2006
John Bisset/Timaru Herald

Ever been suspicious that your Christmas present is of the recycled model? Timaru woman Rosie Carruthers has virtually turned recycled gift-giving into an art form – along with her ability to find the quirky and the truly bizarre.

The recycling started with a calendar of cartoons from her sister and brother-in-law. Thinking them too good to waste, the next Christmas the couple received them back as a set of laminated place mats – a dozen of course.

Brother-in-law's next gift to her was a set of male "stud" playing cards. How could she recycle those? She thought about it throughout the year.

In keeping with the theme of the laminated place mats, the cards were taken to the local copy shop, set out in an "H" – as in his surname's initial – and laminated into a shower curtain. The checkered pattern on the back of the cards gave no indication to what would be revealed when you took a shower.

The stakes were getting higher. Next Christmas he gave her a framed photo of himself clad in a towelling bathrobe, reclining on a sheepskin rug beside his car. Of course the price tag was still attached to the frame.

The following Christmas he opened an attractive leather box. Inside was a jigsaw puzzle. He recognised the shape of his tooth on one piece. The previous year's photo had been copied, turned into a jigsaw puzzle and returned.

Twelve months later the couple gave Rosie what they assumed would be the ultimate in non-recyclable gifts – a shell-encrusted wine bottle lamp. The joke was on them. While they had expected her to hate its '60s style, she rather liked it, refusing to recycle and part with it.

Brother-in-law also has a collection of noisy Christmas decorations with Rosie's compliments. It started when she bought him a motion activated singing Christmas tree several years ago. He has received another each year. And while they may have been bought for their "kitsch" element, that too has started to backfire as the six musical toys are becoming firm favourites with his young daughters.

Yet it's not only recycled presents you're likely to get from Rosie. She's always on the lookout for the tacky or the absurd – like the Mother Teresa breath freshener bought in USA, the cake of soap containing a spider given to an aracnophobic friend, or the toilet seat full of lollies for the six-year-old niece. She's also fond of the gifts which will have the receiver shrieking with horror or disgust.

So what will she be giving this Christmas? There's the giant gobstoppers sure to silence the Christmas Day conversations and some outdoor lamps based on crocheted doily designs.

And for the truly lucky(?) there will be memories of crocodile hunter Steve Irwin – in the shape of 30cm long edible gummy crocs. Crikey!