Just a Little Something Sweet Inside that Cup

OK, I'm right in the middle of finals week, so I'll make this quick, but I saw another thing on the Today Show only a few minutes ago that again made me think, "What the...?"

I posted a few weeks ago about a segment on the same morning program that suggested ways to "go green." This is an even dumber idea.

Today's bit discussed ways to wrap oddly shaped gifts for the holidays (Christmas). I didn't really understand the premise behind this one. Well I guess I did, but the whole idea overall was just really sad.

As I said, the topic was gift wrapping, and they got to small shaped gifts, like gift cards. It was suggested that you should reuse old coffee cups (you know, the ones you drink out of, put your mouth on) and put the gift inside it. Add a bow and you are the biggest cheapskate on the block.

Somehow, these coffee cups were all holiday decorated. I don't drink coffee all that often, so Starbucks may have themed cups this time of the year, but really, is that even relevant? You're putting a gift in a piece of garbage. Literally.

The only reason the host had behind this odd technique was that it supports the whole "reduce, reuse, recycle" mantra. There's gotta be a better way to do this, other than give your trash to the people you care enough about to get gifts.

Now, I wouldn't really mind getting a gift card or something like that in a coffee cup (that sounds so weird, doesn't it?), but here's what takes the cake (yum, cake): they actually suggested putting jewelry in there. What? No, I'm not kidding. Doesn't most jewelry already come inside a case? If it doesn't, did you just buy it from some guy in an alley? How would you display that inside the cup? What an awful idea!

Imagine this: you and your sweetheart and cuddled up next to the fire to stay warm. You hand her what appears to be a piece of trash and she says, "Honey, the garbage can is in the kitchen." You give her a look and she finally figures out that there's something sliding around inside.

Tada!

You have just created an overly-awkward situation because you were too cheap. Or else you were just too dumb to keep the original case.