Eco Christmas ideas

[napsarelifewithtwo]

There is always so much waste around Christmas. What does everyone do to keep this down?

What is the best eco wrapping paper (other than just brown parcel paper - Santa needs a diff wrap to what I do)?

Do you still send Xmas cards?

Any festive craft ideas that don't involve lots of waste?

☺️

Don’t have any answers to this unfortunately but following for ideas!

For wrapping paper you can ask on your local free group for old winter theme duvet covers. Then cut them into various size squares and shapes, hem them and then use like patter and wrap /tie with ribbon. Then they can be reused every year. You can also use fabric to make bunting. I've got some double sided bunting that's Halloween on one side and Christmas on the other. I made matching cushion cases for the couches and felt garlands with bells for the fire place.

The best most eco friendly crafts ( other than all that sewing ^) by far are the edible type . Ginger bread. Mince pies. Mandarin spiced sausage rolls, Christmas cake.

Father Christmas has never wrapped things in our house- that's about as eco friendly as you can get! However I think it was probably because my parents couldn't be bothered, I thank them now as I don't feel the need to wrap either!

Our council won’t recycle any wrapping paper at all, even paper labelled as recyclable as they say most of it is too thin to be recycled and it takes too much sorting to weed out that which can be.

I love the idea of reusing the material as mentioned above.

In our house Father Christmas uses a specific tissue paper which has holly leaves on. Recyclable, only problem is hiding it the rest of the year so as not to ruin the magic.

We have always decorated the house and table with ivy and holly we grow in the garden. Might be a bit late to grow for this year.

The best way to avoid waste is not to buy too much. We usually do something to read, something to eat, something to wear, something fun. You can make Something To Read a second hand purchase and something to eat could be home made (cranberry jelly or gingerbread men or fudge or chocolate truffles).

Something to wear is nearly always novelty socks in my house!

Love this thread! Taking notes 👀

I usually do brown paper (as much as I can is recycled brown paper from parcels and box stuffing deconstructed), sometimes with yarn pom-poms. Wary of painting on the paper, not sure if that still counts as okay for the paper bin, but I have eco glue (can also DIY this) to stick on cutouts from old Christmas cards. I've seen some absolutely gorgeous, vintage-looking ones done this way on Pinterest (where else!)
I also reuse gift bags/boxes and noted that most of family and friends seem to also purposely leave the tags blank or cut them off, so I think everyone's doing this.

What I did for the first time last Christmas, and hope to repeat this year, is use some fat quarters and wrap them up. I won't do it for everyone, because I know some people just don't reuse the fabric, so it's wasteful that way. But my artistic and crafty nieces will appreciate furoshiki and will definitely use the cloth for something else like a sewing project.

Unfortunately I am still a fan of sending Christmas post... but I do only do it for people who I know appreciate handwritten cards (eg my aunt) so I either choose a great one by an independent artist, or I ask DS to draw some for me. All in all I probably send between 3-8.

Last year I bought eco tape from Naturally Wrapt and used plain brown paper, but each child had different tape.
I've got plenty left for this year too.
https://naturallywrapt.co.uk/

I've also used bulk recycled christmas wrap, I found some in TKMax, WH Smith and Paperchase in sales and I used brown tape that you wet to stick that is 100% recyclable.
Tags are always recycled Christmas cards.
Lots of my decor is from nature, pine cones and evergreens. (I do have lots of tat built up over the years).
I've had a go at salt dough for tree decorations as well.

I have used red ‘brown’ paper from WH Smith the last few years with thick green ribbon (that I reuse).

I never buy wrapping paper. I accumulate enough suitable materials during the year from paper packaging, string, ribbons etc.

No need for sellotape either, although if absolutely necessary you can get brown paper tape.

Also have successfully made my own crackers before. Bought the snaps cheaply on eBay - everything else was recycled. Toilet roll, old wrapping paper from previous Xmas, sweets inside.

My DC are adults so what suits our household:

3 of us a vegetarian (DS is the only one who eats meat ) but that's not a Christmas Eco choice .

DS likes money for presents which is fine by us . We send him a message that says look in your account and do a bank transfer

They have Dec 1st Boxes /bags re-used until they fall apart . Underwear , pyjamas/loungwear , toiletries .

I make an Advent Calendar for DD , instead of bags I used to do a gift box that will fit the biggest item , a ribbon and a wooden number tag . Sneak the box into her room with that days gift . She gives me back the empty box . Last year I did one gift box on Dec 1st with several items , it is hard to buy things that aren't just fillers and she won't use . She liked having them all at once . This forms part of her presents / I'm horrified at the price of some of the high end beauty advents out there . I know they're good value but as an Add On present it is £££.

Oh and we do have Winter/Christmas Bedding that goes om Dec 1st (or Hallowe'en for DD , towels , cushions . throws . All years old and re-used .

@SpanishSummer where do you get your tissue paper?

easiest step is to reduce quantity of gifts - look at giving experiences, food or drinks. If you want to gift toys or book, look for good second hand

Some great ideas here thanks guys, I especially like the look of that tape, thanks @Thereshegoesagain

This is our first (proper) year with kids as before my eldest was still to young to really know what's going on and I'm so excited to get carried away with the magic but I don't want to fill my house with tat in the process!

We already are going to do a Dec 1st box where they will get new pjs (not Xmas related so they will be for year round) and I have lots of ideas for hot choc/sweets/films as they get older but for now I won't fill the box with much.

Baking is always a winner as someone said so defo will schedule in some gingerbread making.

Just really only the simple stuff:

• reuse wrapping /decorations /gift bags, everything really
• buying only what is needed and embracing the joy of bringing out the old stuff rather having new
• dont overbuy food and minimise waste by using stuff up creatively- cheeseboard fondue, yes please!
• Secondhand and more sustainable gifts
• Resist the massive over-consumption, try really really hard not to buy things! it isn’t the tat that any of us remember from our childhoods, it’s a moment when everyone was laughing, running down to see decorations up, a very special long awaited presents. You cannot fake that with more stuff.

I made some lovely snowflake decorations (the folded up, fan-kind) out of the bags inside cereal packets last year. They turned out surprisingly well and looked really pretty hung in the window. Also, no need to worry about condensation ruining them (as with paper). Would be a good, easy craft to do with kids.

There a. FB group called "plastic free Christmas" which is a but quiet at the moment, but has been helpful in the past.

I still send cards, but far fewer than I used to.

After Christmas I cut them to make gift tags for next year. If I don't have enough in my stash, I use computer/printer sticky labels, cut in half and decorate them a bit with felt tip (bells, holly etc)

I keep and reuse gift bags

I get wrapping paper from those pop up charity card shops, as quite a high percentage goes to good causes, and look for ones which are recyclable (ours in OK with just about anything that isn't metallic)
Father Christmas no longer wraps anything, and presents always arrive in fabric sacks, made by my mother years ago.

Decorations have been accumulated over the years (many brought back from holidays) style is eclectic and we'll keep them forever.

Only one tree present per DC. Stockings have lots of stuff though, but nearly all of it is useful. No Christmas Eve boxes, start of Advent boxes or Elves anywhere.

More likely to splurge on good food and a trip to the theatre than spend on Stuff.

@napsarelifewithtwo small children are the perfect age for second hand / pre loved presents!

They do not know or care it's not 'new' and even if it was new you might take it out the box and set it up anyway for impact.

I feel a lot less bad if the plastic tat my children love is secondhand and then we can pass on afterwards as well.

Totally agree @derrydee! lots of secondhand train stuff planned for this year. My toddler couldn’t care less about unboxing from new!

We have a living tree in the garden that we bring in each year.
Christmas dinner comes via veg box.
Buy Christmas jumpers second hand or decorate our own old jumpers.
Make our own Christmas cards.
Use the same advent calendar each year filled with notes.
Use the same paper chains and foil garlands every year.
Wrapping - for us at home and people who I know will appreciate/ reuse it, we use fabric wrapping. I get the kids to decorate other sheets of paper for wrapping so although still wasteful it's making use of their constant crafting energy.

Lovely ideas here!
We also reuse a lot of wrap/gift bags, buy eco stuff (mainly brown paper) for any extras. Decorations are ones we have had for years (eclectic!) And DD likes to do some craft (paper chains, wreaths)
I have a little wooden advent calendar with drawers for DD(8). Last year I managed to get quite a few charms and a charm bracelet second hand so every drawer had a chocolate and about every other one also had a charm. I was thinking of finding her some clip on earrings second hand this year but she won't need 12 pairs so having a think of other jewellery/tat I can pick up second hand but she will enjoy finding- ideas welcome!! It always seems to creep up without me being ready :)

Fabric drawstring gift bags.... you can make them any size and take five mins to make max. Reuse them every year.

You can buy lots of lovely poly cotton Christmas Fabric really cheaply, and a roll
of thin ribbon for the drawstring and your done.

Very quick to fill them to