The silly season is here… a time for sharing happiness and celebrating together with food, decorations and gifts. It is also known to be the most wasteful time of the year, but it doesn’t have to be that way! We have put together a guide to help you continue being eco friendly and sustainable all through Christmas.
1. Gift experiences not things
Who says presents have to be physical? Bring people together by giving your time or an experience. The options are endless, whether you want to spend a lot or nothing at all! You could buy tickets to shows, events, book a local restaurant or make a homemade coupon book!
2. Sustainable gifts
For those times where you may just have to give a physical gift, you can still make it sustainable. Edible gifts from the kitchen are something heartfelt and will definitely not go to waste! Fill a reusable glass jar with homemade baked treats, jams or chutneys and you can even make it festive by adding some ribbon or fabric to the jar. Check out our Christmas Premixes which make a perfect gift and come in a lifetime jar to keep forever.
Second hand gifts are another great way to give someone a thoughtful gift on a budget whilst also helping out the environment. There are plenty of quality options available at op shops, and they don’t have to be tacky!
3. Eco-friendly wrapping
Australians use more than 150,000km of wrapping paper during Christmas – enough to wrap around Earth’s equator nearly 4 times… Let’s ditch the rolls of wrapping paper and instead, use fabric, newspaper, an old map or any other interesting paper you can find and re-use (Who Gives A Crap toilet paper have cute wrapping that would work perfectly). If you receive presents in wrapping paper, carefully open them so you can recycle and use it yourself! Old Christmas cards received last year, or other recycled material also make great gift tags.
4. Christmas cards
Store bought Christmas cards with glitter and foil may look great, but they’re expensive and can’t be recycled! Why not get creative and save some cash by making your own cards (a fun activity for the kids too).
5. Christmas decorations
For some, Christmas doesn't feel complete without the tradition of Christmas crackers exploding with little plastic toys that serve no purpose... but I have found the alternative for you! The Conscious Cracker Co are based in QLD and sell plastic free crackers made from 100% post-consumer paper, filled with practical gifts! As for the tree decorations, there are so many alternatives that can be made at home and re-used for years to come including dehydrated citrus, popcorn garland or twig stars to name a few.
6. Christmas lunch
We all know the feeling of going into a food coma after Christmas lunch, it just seems to be part of the tradition… We cook in abundance for this one day and while leftovers are great, food waste is not. Choose meals that will work great as leftovers and buy less of those foods that don’t keep so well. Why not invite your guests to bring their own reusable containers to take leftovers home! If possible, try to replace some of your festive meat options with vegan options such as a Mushroom and Sweet Potato wellington… Yum!
We hope this guide helps you make sustainable choices this Christmas and don’t be afraid to make some new traditions!