A Sustainable Christmas
Let’s talk about Christmas, it’s not far off, 46 days or something scary as I write this! It’s not only a magical and exciting time of year but it’s also unfortunately hugely expensive and I’m sad to say often a wasteful one.
Homemade paper stars, natural wooden ornaments and foarged foliage for a rustic sustainable Christmas
The packaging, the excess plastic and just the mass consumption involved. Now don’t get me wrong, I really don’t want to sound all Bah Humbug over this and I LOVE spoiling my family at Christmas but I’m definitely mindful over what I buy and how I shop and the materials I use to decorate my home and wrap my gifts. We can’t guarantee a white Christmas but we can certainly try and have a green one!
There are so many things we can do big and small to to be more mindful at this time of year and to reduce our waste and consumption. It can not only be far more creative but save you money too.
Ok lets talk first about presents, you may have already started your Christmas shopping (I like to be organised and already have a few) Planning ahead does mean you can be more prepared and mindful about what you buy rather than doing a panic bulk buy from Amazon at the last minute.
Buy small, I can’t say it enough, let’s give our hard earned cash to small independents, makers and creators, artists at a local craft fair, or friends that create at their kitchen table rather than huge corporations who don’t even pay their taxes or look after their employees fairly (not naming any names but you may know who I mean!) Anyway I’m not on here to get political but it makes lots of sense to buy not only small but local. Local craft markets are brilliant for this. For example if you’re Midlands based the Paper Dolls Handmade market is amazing, lots of makers and artists all under one roof selling beautiful handmade products.
Presents wrapped with paper handmade stars and recyclable brown paper and twine
Other local stores I’ll be buying from the year are G.A.S lifestyle store an online store run by a local mum in Bournville, Isherwood, a local florist, plant store and homewares shop also in Bournville and The Hedge a small independent lifestyle, florist and plant store in The Great Western Arcade in central Birmingham (all have an online store if you want a little mooch)
Another option is to re think your gifts. Last year we made charity donations for some family members instead of gifts. You could also think of gifting an experience, adopting an animal or buying a subscription to the National Trust, an online magazine or a organic veg or gin box.
So once you’ve bought your presents, the fun bit, wrapping them! Well for me its fun! I know its not everyones idea of a good time but I love wrapping my presents up beautifully every year (ok the kids’ stocking presents may be a little less fancy!) I stick on the Christmas tunes or a film, get a big glass of Bailey’s and enjoy getting creative.
Last year’s advent calendar presents using all biogradeable papers and foraged or vintage decorations.
Did you know that the majority of wrapping paper contains plastic so can’t be recycled and ends up in land fill? Each year in the UK its estimated we throw away enough wrapping paper to circle the globe 9 times. Thankfully there are more and more eco friendly options. Cox and Cox, Etsy and Paperchase are good places to get beautiful recyclable papers. Alternatively you can’t go wrong with good old brown paper. Every year I buy this as a staple gift wrap. Cheap, classic and eco, plus it’s a brilliant blank canvas for customising. You can print on it, create paint effects on it, all sorts of fun stuff that’s a great way to get creative with your kids too. I’ll be sharing some of my ideas for customising brown paper later this month over on my Instagram page.
For wrapping I use either this brown tape from The Plastic Free Shop ( there are all sorts of eco supplies on here for your Christmas wrapping, twine, tape, and paper) Or I’ve seen you can now buy biodegradable sellotape, available in loads of places including Sainsbury’s.
Home made wreaths and Paper bag stars
An alternative and fun wrapping idea to try is the Japanese art of Furoshiki. This is a simple way to wrap gifts using a square of fabric and simply knotting. No tape needed and you can simply tuck a pretty sprig of foliage into your gift and so dispense with any tape and the cloth can be reused again and again. You can buy special Furoshiki wraps, try here or just buy your own fabric or even better use up fabric you have at home. An old unused tablecloth cut up into squares would be perfect.
Then the decorations and tags, I love traditional cheap brown paper luggage tags, you can customise them in lots of ways. A bit of simple calligraphy, some festive stamps to add a cute Christmas motif (I’ve got a set of xmas ones like these that I use every year to personalise tags and wrapping paper) Dispense with the plastic foil ribbons and bows and instead try using rustic string or twine, fabric ribbons ( I have a collection of ribbons, including vintage sari scraps and vintage lace ribbons that are perfect to add an individual and vintage touch to plain brown paper wrapped gifts. Plain raffia ribbon is another lovely option and comes in lots of colours, I bought a selection from here this year.
Then for a final decorative touch I like to add some natural foliage, so get foraging and snipping. Snips of rosemary look pretty and smell beautiful as do bay leaves or pine. I like using Leylandi snips, they don’t really smell as nice but will last and look good for weeks. Ivy sprigs are good too and I also like to paint leaves such as oak with a touch of gold paint as you can see in the present image above. Other ideas for things to use are pine cones, dried flower or seed heads, bells, old Christmas decorations (little glass baubles add a lovely personal touch) SO many things you can use, so get creative!
Now the presents are done let’s move on to decorating our house! The centrepiece of course will be your tree and I know there is a lot of debate over the best green solution for a tree. Real or faux? So I’ve done my research and as I always have said it is far better for the environment to go for the real option. Here are the facts.
Most fake Christmas trees are not surprisingly made in China and are made from plastic, PVC and metal and then shipped overseas (adding to their carbon footprint) Plus then of course they aren’t recyclable so inevitably end up in land fill. According to the Carbon Trust a standard 2 metre artificial tree has a carbon footprint of around 40kg, more than 10 times that of a real tree that’s burned after Christmas. Of course if you have a potted tree that you use year after year or even ensure that your tree is chipped and reused in parks (most councils or local parks offer this service) then its carbon footprint is reduced even further.
Real Trees are far more envirnmentally friendly. Fact.
Its estimated that to you’d need to re-use your artificial tree for 10 years to negate it’s carbon footprint, yet it’s estimated that on average they are only used 4 times. Compare this to a real locally sourced tree and the difference is shocking.
So what are the best options for buying a real tree? First of all forget the argument about deforestation, most Christmas trees are grown as a horticultural crop and aren’t felled from existing forests. Things to look out for when buying a tree - source an FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified tree, source it organically (check it’s a FSC tree as they’re grown in a responsibly managed way and minimise pesticide use) and source it locally. We tend to buy ours from Cannock Chase a local Staffordshire forest.
Another alternative if you haven’t got the space to keep a potted tree you can now rent trees. This will reduce your tree’s carbon footprint even further and one of the benefits is that you can even rent the same tree each year so your tree grows with your family!
I made this wreath last year from my tree trimmings, I added additional foliage from my garden and dried seed heads and a few brass bird ornaments to finish it off.
So time to decorate it. I don’t buy many new decorations each year, I just tend to buy one or two and add to what we already have. I love the memories involved in a tree where it evolves over time and one of my favourite Christmas traditions is getting the box of decorations out and looking through our old baubles. Of course its always fun to have something new to add but there are loads of creative ideas you can try and make some yourself.
Last year I experimented with salt dough and made these decorations you can see here. Click here for the recipe and how to make them. They are super easy and obviously are bio degradable but if you use varnish on them they will keep and can be used year after year. I also used them as little table decorations and as gift tags.
Other ideas for tree decorations you make yourself are these origami stars which I made into garlands, see here for a You Tube tutorial on how to make them. I also made wooden bead garlands for my tree from old unwanted necklaces and a plant hanger that I no longer liked. They are lovely and add a simple scandi touch to your tree. I also like this idea from @Pandora.Maxton where she’s tied huge hessian bows onto her tree. Such a simple but effective idea. Paper stars are also lovely on a tree and super easy to make yourself. I also might make some popcorn garlands with the kids this year and always love making homemade gingerbread every Christmas some of which we make into hanging decorations ( they never last long though!)
Aside for the tree I like to concentrate on just a few main areas to decorate as I feel it can get overwhelming in my small rooms. Again I don’t buy much new but re use what I have in different ways and will add lots of natural foliage. I love to decorate the mantlepiece in our front room, the period fireplace deserves dressing up and its so lovely when we have a fire. I like to use a mix of real foliage, dried and some faux that I re use every year. You can’t beat lengths of ivy, pine branches, especially with cones attached, eucalyptus (we have two eucalyptus trees in our garden who’s main purpose is to supply me with offcuts for decorating projects!) I also use twisted willow ( I use these throughout the year in various arrangements) Dried flowers and seed heads and my trusty pampas grass always makes an appearance!
Mantel decor using a mix od dried and real foliage, paper stars and balls. The base of this is a faux garland I use every year.
Last year I also made a pampas cloud from, you guessed it, pampas! I re use all my collection of pampas through out the year and its perfect for creating an individual, ethereal and eco display. I literally make a ball of chicken wire, attach it to the ceiling with some twine or fishing wire and stick my pampas and grasses in and add some twinkly lights. It takes a lot of stems to create this effect but is worth it for a real show stopping centre piece over your dining table.
Pampas Cloud, an easy way to create a stunning festive centrepiece
Finally I love to bake and edible decorations are the ultimate in bio degradable decorations (as in being in my belly!) Gingerbread stars and the traditional gingerbread house are a staple in my house and this year for my annual advent calendar I’m thinking of ditching the usual presents (its so hard to find 48 cheap and non plastic gifts) So I’m going to make my traditional gingerbread stars but will be numbering them. Then my kids get a biscuit every day (they always love the sweet treats in the calendar the most)
So that’s it, I could have written SO much more on this and have so many ideas and suggestions for homemade and eco friendly projects. But tried to keep it short(ish) I’ll be sharing more crafting projects on here and my Instagram leading up to Christmas. Hope you enjoyed this blog though and found it informative and useful!
Theresa x