With 85% of textile waste going to landfills every year, Halloween can have a devastating effect on the environment. While it’s tons of fun to pick out a costume and dress up, any family can make a night of crafting DIY costumes, and avoid creating unnecessary waste. Look around for wornout clothes, old sweats, or too-small garments. Many of today’s costumes can be made by hand if you have a sewing machine. Or if you truly want to make something easy, consider making an easy paper mask to wear on top of a colorful outfit. Paper masks can be tons of fun for kids and adults to wear. There are lots of sites that offer outlines for you to print out. Just color them in, add some sequins and glitter and you’re ready to go.  For masquerade style, glue it onto a stick, or for easy-wear just add an elastic band.

The great site Cool Mom Picks has rounded up their favorite online patterns. There are six fright-ready choices available at Mr. Printables, including a black cat, jack-o-lantern, skull and spider. They’re free to download. The patterns can also be used to make longer-lasting felt masks. The cutest patterns online are hands-down Wee Society’s DIY Wee Alphas, which are free cutouts that can be pasted onto a brown paper bag. These little bags are the complete costume. Choose between an owl, lion, fox and gorilla. For a more fancy option, Etsy store Shades of Every Color offers digital downloads for $3.99 each. Choose between full-color printouts of a peacock, owl, or deer. And if you’re feeling inspired, just take out some cardboard and markers and get to work.

Japanese design company MUJI is the king of creating beautiful, simple goods in gorgeous packaging. So naturally they’d be amazing toy designers. We stumbled upon these  “Playing with LEGO bricks and paper” kits that look like endless fun for kids and grownups alike. Each set comes with a bag of lego bricks and coordinating paper that follows one of five themes: move, animals, Christmas, basic and vehicles. Muji sells a separate LEGO hole punch that creates the patented four-hole square lego mark in paper to connect sheets of paper into a variety of figures. When you run out of paper, use recycled note cards or construction paper to keep on playing. Props to MUJI for finding one more innovative use for paper.

So, in spirit of OMGPOP bringing back the fun of drawing and pictionary with Draw Something, we want to feature this cool product: the Paper Watch from Suck UK. According to the makers, it is a paper watch made from a blank canvas. Generally, a plain watch made from tear-resistant paper-style material with a built-in digital watch. We love it for a number of reasons. First, it’s a paper watch. I don’t know about any of you, but I used to make paper watches in elementary school, so it’s definitely a trip down memory lane. Secondly, you can take recycling to another level by giving paper a second life. You can also use it as a unique way to send party invitations or even give as a gift – even funnier, write a “Don’t Be Late” message on it! Lastly, we love the Paper Watch because it lets us draw something…on a watch.

You can find this watch on Amazon for a little under $11, but if you hurry now, they’re selling it on Busted Tees as the Deal of the Day for $9. At Paper Culture, we also have a few countdown to noon clock themed party invitations that feature artistic representations of the face of a clock. Can you imagine throwing a birthday party using one of these invites and handing out the Paper Watch as a goody bag? Priceless. Or rather… Timeless.

In traditional American gift-giving, a couple’s first-year anniversary calls for paper. But how does a creative type make something original while still giving a nod to traditional culture? Art Director Ariele Rosch found the answer in a short film she made for her husband Peter to commemorate the day. In it, a paper doll comes to life and embarks on a paper-plane adventure, bumping into a fellow traveler. You know the rest of the story. With a crash and a boom they fall in love.

It’s a beautifully sweet video that made me smile today. I particularly love the wild camera angles that give the simple images a lot more weight. If you’re not adept at stop motion animation, don’t feel like you can’t give an original present to your paramour. Take a cue from Rosch, and with any paper gift, use the first leaf to draw a picture or write a letter that they’ll want to keep forever.

What’s the best anniversary present you’ve ever heard of?