I've bought a couple of random, large dresses at good will, then cut them up into large squares and rectangles. I wrap gifts in them and tie them up with a ribbon. You can also cut it into a shape with thin strips to tie on the corners, but I haven't figured that out yet. And I only use this with family and good friends, since I know they will either reuse it themselves or give it back to me.
Other presents I give in reusable gift bags or this year I got some wrapping paper in the mail from a charity asking for money, so I've been using that too on small gifts.

*Brown paper packages tied up with string.*

Brown butcher paper, the kind florists use, is perfect for this.

There's a fair number of gay homeless human children getting help and services via PSKS aka Peace on the Streets By Kids from the Streets. They also just recently netted a nice award/grant (thanks Golden Lasso!!!), and should be a rising star this coming year among Seattle's great small charities.

http://www.psks.org/

Childhaven is amazing. http://www.childhaven.org/who-we-are.aspx

The GSBA scholarship fund is a great combination gay/child charity. The money goes %100 to cover tuition and other collage expenses (the checks go directly to the school and all overhead and administrative cost of the fund is covered by a separate fund) They target those with leadership potential and allow students to attend school who otherwise are not able. The scholarships are limited to undergraduate or vocational study. The selection process is very involved and takes several months. This is a great way to keep kids off the street and living up to their potential.

I like to support my local food bank, since I've had to rely on them in the past.

You can buy shipping labels in packages of printable sheets and print them up on a color inkjet printer. An office supply store will have as many as you need. Check with the internet for a program that will let you print in certain areas of the sheet of labels you can cut the shapes out with scissors. Try printing the stickers out on a sheet of paper first to align the printings up with the centers of the labels.

I'm late to the party on this one, but this year I volunteered at Forgotten Children's Fund.

There are many ways to volunteer with this organization. If you don't have a lot of time, you can "shop" for gifts for a designated family amongst a warehouse of donated toys and clothes, then wrap the gifts for the family. The warehouse is open from early December until Christmas.

On Christmas Eve and/or Christmas day, you can volunteer as an elf and deliver gifts (with Santa) to local families.

Every member of each family receives gifts, not just the kids. Gifts are delivered with a box of food for the family.

It's a lovely organization, and you can help in many ways.

I used a ton of paper grocery sacks this year. The Trader Joe's bags had great holiday stuff printed on them (snowflakes, snowmen) that made it look like real wrapping paper. I also decorated my gifts with leftover yarn and ribbon from crafting projects, and cute shapes (birds, snowflakes, gift tags) made from various paper odds and ends. I even made a cardboard Christmas tree (spray-painted white and gold) that turned out totally AWESOME.

I think a little ingenuity and a willingness to use what's at hand goes a long, long way.

my mom gave me a present in a reusable grocery bag. It was one of those super neat ones that tuck into itself. Kind of like one of these:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/green-ideas/green-home-my-reusable-shopping-bag-055507

Gift bags are easily re-usable, and fold flat to store from year to year.

Tin foil is always a good festive option. Much easier to save/re-use. Make ribbons fron magazine strips and you've got yourself a pretty package:

When donating to the Houseless

Remember to donate items

that someone with no electricity or stove could use

Already prepared items are best

Try to buy stuff that has a pull off lids instead of can opener

Blankets, Coats, Gloves, and Personal Hygiene items work great also

I would not suggest going out on the street and handing it out yourself

Unless you have had dealings with the houseless

It is best to donate directly to a shelter

Small donations of items and food are nice, and kind

but

if you donate Money to your favorite houseless support group

They can buy in bulk and get much more stuff for your donated money

I suggest Volunteering your Time

to help out at a shelter

The rewards are priceless

There are many worthy organizations to choose from

below are some links to help you find a organization in your community

I answered this question for someone back before Thanksgiving, but the same answer still applies. Since many shelters and meal programs are overrun with volunteers around the holidays, it can be tricky to find somewhere that needs the help, so you might need to make a few phone calls before you find something - don't get discouraged though! If you can't find anything on Christmas Day, there are plenty of other opportunities to volunteer all year long :) For a directory of local shelters and food banks, check out http://www.scn.org/crisis/ and for holiday volunteer listings visit http://www.uwkc.org/ways-to-volunteer/

Hope this helps!

teenfeed.org

Break the legs of the competition.

You have to ask yourself the hard question of how much are you willing to pay. Then put in your maximum bid and hope you win.

There really isn't much strategy to it.

There's one way to guarantee winning an auction - outbid everyone else (and in the case of Strangercrombie - outbid everyone else at the last minute, so no-one has time to outbid you).

So yeah, Rev.Enant sums it up - deep pockets.

Deep Pockets

Here you go:

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/zip/2098702401.html
http://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/zip/2095989191.html

some small cash to get this one: http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/gms/2094373726.html

Good luck!!

I know this isn't nearly as much fun as revenge, but it will be more beneficial for you in the long term. I have high school teachers in my past who to this very day send chills down my spine some 30 years later. I want to spit on their graves. But I'm kinda glad I never have done that. Who looks like the goon then?

Don't do anything because it might come back to bite you in the ass someday. Move on. Learn from this. Avoid that kind of boss/workplace in the future. Now, you'll know to do so.

As unlikely as it may seem now, an act of revenge could come back to haunt you directly or indirectly. And she sounds like a real peach, but someday in the distant future you could even regret doing whatever you may be planning.

Let it roll off your back, Aqua, and you'll come out the winner. Sorry you were fired (if you were fired). I don't know anyone worth anything who hasn't been fired at least once.

Happy holidays!

I went to Calgary years ago for a weekend of drinking after my buddies and I graduated high school (drinking age was 18, it was cheaper than Mexico).

Somebody had plastered the town with posters of this chick's photo and the caption "Amy Jean Smith has genital warts."

They were everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE. On every telephone pole, at the bus stops, in the bar bathrooms, taped to doors of public buildings. I was there for two days and I probably saw 150 of the posters around town.

I don't know if I'd call that kind of revenge "harmless" but man, somebody really fucked Amy Jean Smith of Calgary over real good.

I once had an irritating colleague of mine sent free samples of Astroglide and Metamucil via the online "request a free sample" pages of both of those sites.

Irritating colleague had sent someone he wanted to annoy Mormon missionaries via their website; you can do the same with Jehovah's Witnesses.

There are a couple of online services that one can use to send anonymous emails suggesting that the recipient get tested for various STDs. These sites are geared towards people who engage in bathhouse-type activities or Craigslist trolling. A few college friends of mine would send these to each other on a regular basis just to rile each other.

In the not-so-harmless/requires-mechanical-expertise category, you can "fish" a car, take the gap on the spark plugs down to next to nothing (vehicle will run but not move), or let the air out of diagonal tires.

"Revenge is a dish best served cold." Mail her some frozen gazpacho soup.

Or some weight loss pills: "Due to your recent interest in weight loss, we have selected you to receive a sample of our innovative new herbal weight-loss pills!" This would only work if she was self conscious about her weight. But now that I think about it, this is wayyy harsh, and you'd have to make sure to mail something harmless (and anonymously).

No, just because I don't live in Seattle. I'd like to donate for an item though ... I remember last year or the year before you could get something if you gave a certain amount. I'd love to buy a calendar too (either of the Strangercrombie models or of Sloggers...)!

If possible, get a better job - and send a thank you card. This is one of those rare cases where passive-agressive is a win.

There is no such thing as a harmless revenge. Revenge is a consuming action. It lowers your dignity while putting you into a potential cycle of revenge and hatred.

The best thing to do is seek to do well in your own life. Let go of hatred and thoughts of revenge and wish peace unto those who would do you evil.

Living well and going on to achieve more success than that person ever did is always the mark of a mature and better person.
Don't lower yourself to their level, cause sooner or later, the tale of whatever you did to them will surface... whether from you or co-workers or in a reference...and then you can NEVER recover from that...as the rumor mill works against you.

Success. Sweet, sweet success.

There is nothing that will make you laugh harder, nothing more harmless, and nothing else as clever.