Christmas will very soon be upon us and so will the pressure to buy lots of presents, decorations and special Christmas themed food and drink. The full on consumerism at Christmas isn’t particularly eco-friendly, but it is still my favourite holiday. Although I understand that many people, especially those with young children, will want to buy a lot of ‘stuff’ this holiday season, there are plenty of ways to have a much more eco-friendly Christmas.
Top Tip – Buy Less!
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Eco-Friendly Christmas Ideas
Advent Calendars
Let’s start with advent calendars which, when I was a child, were just windows you opened to reveal a picture. They then morphed into windows revealing chocolates and these days you can get advent calendars containing all sorts of things; they can contain beauty products, gin and other alcohol, small toys and there are even advent calendars for pets. My biggest problem with modern advent calendars is that they contain miniatures of things, meaning a small amount of product and lots of packaging. My second biggest problem is how much money you can spend on them – consumerism for consumerisms sake.
In order of preference, this is my advice:
- Don’t bother buying them
- Make your own
- Stick to the original idea to reveal just pictures
- Have an advent calendar instead of Christmas presents or stocking filler presents if you’re buying the expensive sort
- Buy plastic free advent calendars with vegan / ethical chocolates or other items inside, or buy a reusable advent calendar that you can fill with whatever you like
If you do buy advent calendars check the ingredients to ensure they contain no palm oil, that any beauty products are not tested on animals and are vegan friendly and that the contents are plastic free.
Christmas Presents
There are several different ways that Christmas presents can be more environmentally friendly, let’s start with some basics…
Have a Present Free Christmas
For the last few years I’ve asked my family not to be buy me Christmas or Birthday presents basically because I don’t want more stuff. In fact I’m gradually getting rid of things because my house is just full of stuff I don’t need. My family don’t always stick to this but they have been very good in only buying me things that I can use, for example an item of clothing or a calendar.
Not all of your family members will be happy with having a present free Christmas so here are some alternative options…
Have a Spending Limit
For those of us having large family gatherings, the prospect of buying everyone a present is a bit concerning. Not only can it end up costing you loads of money, you end up buying people things purely for the sake of them having something to open. My family has compromised this year and we’ve all been given a spending limit.
Plastic Free Presents
In addition to having a spending limit I’ve requested that gifts are plastic free. I’ve let my family know that I really don’t want to receive anything containing plastic. Having the conversation early means people have time to get used to the idea and think outside the box about what to buy. If you have younger family members, check out these eco-friendly toys and gifts for children.
Have a Homemade Christmas
Limit gifts to homemade items only. All members of the family can make something. It could be some cookies or a cake, it might be a nice drawing or some jewellery. Get creative and reuse, recycle or repurpose things that you already possess to make something unique for those you love.
Buy Gifts That Have an Impact
To be honest, these type of gifts are probably not as great for small children, but for your ethically minded friends they’re fantastic. My Mum once adopted a goat on my behalf, and I once adopted a penguin for my stepdad who absolutely loves penguins. Alternatively you can buy actual gifts that make a difference as well.
I’ve recently come across this company called Social Stories Club. As they say about themselves “Social Stories Club brings you a wide range of sustainable gifts where each item in the gift box and gift hamper supports a different social cause. From biscuits made entirely from renewable energy to soap bar that support individuals with complex epilepsy and learning disabilities.” You can buy hampers or boxes filled with ethical gifts like chocolate, tea, biscuits and much more.
Make sure you also check out these ideas for alternatives to gifts or if you and your family are not quite ready to stop giving and receiving presents check out these ideas for eco-friendly gifts.
Wrapping Paper, Christmas Cards & Gift Tags
You’d think that all wrapping paper, Christmas cards and gift tags could be recycled, it’s called paper after all. However this isn’t always the case. Some wrapping paper, cards and gift tags are actually made with plastic, others have glitter all over them. Glitter is basically just micro-plastics and it gets everywhere, including down the drain and into our waterways and should always be avoided. You might have bought recycled paper but it might not be recyclable if it’s covered in sellotape.
What can you do?
- Only buy paper-based wrapping paper; recycled wrapping paper or recycled Christmas cards are better.
- Don’t buy wrapping paper or Christmas cards that come with plastic wrapping around it. (Better still don’t buy Christmas cards at all, they’re kept for a few weeks at most and then 9 times out of 10 just thrown in the bin – a complete waste of money!)
- Avoid any paper or card with glitter on it.
- Keep the wrapping paper and reuse it next year.
- Don’t use standard sellotape, there are eco-friendly sellotapes you can buy that are biodegradable.
- Buy brown paper and use natural twine to wrap presents (these look good and are very eco-friendly) and make your own gift tags.
- Use material wrap instead of wrapping paper. It can be reused over and over. You can even repurpose an old shirt or duvet cover into wrapping ‘paper’.
Christmas Trees
Real versus Plastic Trees
Now here’s something I struggle with. For me, given the choice between something natural and something plastic, natural is always best. However, having a real Christmas tree means cutting a perfectly good tree down (and we need trees now more than ever), essentially killing it so we can slowly watch it die while it’s covered in fairy lights and tinsel. I understand how bleak that description is! The alternative is a plastic tree which can be reused for years and years if it’s been packed away properly. But it’s plastic, and it won’t be recyclable at the end of its life.
The real tree does at least have some options after Christmas. Here are some great ideas for what to do with your dead tree, including mulching them or chopping the trunks so they can be used as flower borders or even as coasters (if you’re handy with tools). Alternatively some zoos accept old Christmas trees, elephants love them. Always check with your local zoo first, they sometimes end up with far more than they can do anything with. B&Q, Homebase and Ikea have all been known to accept old trees for recycling. Check with your local outlet.
If you do go with a real tree it can’t be recycled, given to animals and shouldn’t be used outdoors if it’s been covered in fake snow or glitter or has any decorations still attached to it.
Hire a Christmas Tree
Did you know that you can hire a Christmas tree in a pot? After Christmas you return it to be replanted. If you love it you could even end up with the same one the next year. Just make sure you water your tree and don’t use any nasty snow sprays on it. I absolutely love this idea. This is the future of Christmas trees!
- 7 million trees go into landfill every year.
- The carbon footprint of a 6ft real Christmas tree is the equivalent to 16kg of CO2 if it ends up in landfill.
- If you have an artificial tree at home you would need to re-use it for at least 10 Christmases to keep its environmental impact lower than that of a real tree.
- Around two thirds of an average artificial Christmas tree’s carbon footprint is from the plastic (mostly PVC film) that it is made from, which is produced from carbon intensive oil.
– London Christmas Tree Rental
Alternative to Christmas Trees
Why not forgo a tree entirely this year and be a little creative instead? Some of these ideas are particularly good if you don’t actually have room for a Christmas tree anyway.
- Use fairy lights to make a Christmas tree shape on the wall.
- Use tinsel you already own to make a Christmas tree shape on the wall.
- Make a cardboard Christmas tree out of old boxes. (You can still decorate it and hang fairy lights on it). Keep it as simple or as detailed as you like.
- Got loads of old green beer bottles or cans? If you do you can stack them into a Christmas tree shape.
- Make a tree out of toilet paper! No, seriously! Order some Stack a Tree Toilet Rolls from Who Gives A Crap
Eco-Friendly Christmas Decorations
It’s probably fair to say that the majority of ‘traditional’ Christmas decorations are not particularly eco-friendly. Most are made of plastic and covered in glitter, so when you’re out and about and buying any decorations just keep that in mind. Things to avoid are any shiny decorations and that includes tinsel, angel hair (does that still exist?), plastic baubles… you get the idea.
It is possible to buy, or even make, Christmas decorations that are much better for the environment. As children my sister and I would make paper chains with my Mum, they’re a very simple thing to make. To be very eco-friendly buy recycled coloured paper that’s been dyed naturally.
Glass baubles will give your tree that sparkle you might think will be missing by not buying plastic baubles and tinsel. Pine cones can look really lovely as decorations on mantel pieces.
- Plastic Free Christmas Decorations – Felt or Recycled Paper.
- Eco-Friendly Tinsel – made from waste cotton
Oh and don’t buy fake snow!
Christmas Crackers
Like advent calendars you can now buy really expensive Christmas crackers. And in some cases these might be better than the cheap ones. The cheap ones tend to contain a cheap plastic toy or something like a miniature compass (something useless normally) whereas the more expensive ones might have less plastic tat in them.
What my family are doing this Christmas though is making our own. All you need are some toilet roll tubes, some paper to make hats and write silly jokes on and some more paper to wrap the tubes to look like crackers. If you don’t feel like you’re up to completely making your own Christmas crackers from scratch, this is a cheap Cracker making kit (with 6 crackers), includes jokes, hats and even a snap so you get that small bang when you pull them. Of course, you could just go without!
I think I’ve pretty much covered Christmas apart from food, drink and treats. My only advice here is my usual advice, which is to buy organic, buy loose fruit and vegetables and avoid plastic as much as possible. When buying Christmas treats like chocolates, try to avoid the ubiquitous individually wrapped chocolates that now come in plastic containers rather than the lovely tins they used to come in.
Having an eco-friendly Christmas doesn’t mean it will be any less fun. The best thing about Christmas is spending time with family, eating good food and watching Christmas TV. You rarely look back on Christmas and remember the decorations or the stocking filler presents you received. The planet will thank you for making the effort to avoid all the plastic tat in the shops at this time of year.
Have a wonderful eco-friendly Christmas!
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