We are all a lot more aware of what we are buying nowadays and lockdown seems to have given us more time to think about what we want to buy that is more eco friendly. So, for this Christmas why not try a few different ways to create your own eco Christmas.
Start by making your own gift wrap by using new or recycled brown paper and customize it with your own designs or rubber stamps. WH Smith have brown recycled brown paper rolls perfect for wrapping presents.
Instead of using wrapping paper use fabric instead. Try furushiki. the Japanese Art of wrapping with fabric. You can find step by step details online at Furoshiki . They sell lightweight cottons, chiffons, off cuts, organza, the list is endless.
Check out stores on Etsy, & Folksy for original gifts. Also the Ethical Superstore for Fair Trade, has eco-friendly and organic gifts and brilliant cleaning and household products, eco-friendly alternatives to the current cleaning brands on the market, providing simple products to encourage home to become more eco-friendly. Eco cleaning & laundry from Method, Ecover, Guppyfriend, OceanSaver, Bio-D and more.
Another good site is Conscious Craft UK who offer a massive list of products for every age of child with lots and lots of wooden toys for the children but you could spend a day browsing this site and still not seen it all.
You could make your own decorations from wood, natural fabrics and yarns and recycled glass as glitter and tinsel are not recyclable. The website Make Use Of has Christmas Decorations you can easily make from recycled materials, like this recycled cork wreaths. Or head down to this Pinterest Board
which is bursting with recycled Christmas craft ideas. I love this reindeer using an old cd.
And don’t forget to go for LED bulbs for your tree as they consume up to 90% less power and are safer as they do not heat up.
Make your own Christmas cards using recycled cards and envelopes available from a number of places and on Ebay and Amazon, or buy some plantable seed cards and envelopes or paper and envelopes and make them yourself. These Christmas Deer plantable seed cards are perfect to give with a small gift (two presents in one). Give a gift that’s more than just a card. Each pack contains 6 cards, fully biodegradable A6 eco-card embedded with wildflower seeds. Simply wet the card and place in soil to transform into flowers loved by bees and butterflies. Instructions printed on the back of each recycled paper card. Includes kraft paper envelope.
Or these sheets of meadow seed paper from Plant Seed Paper, An unusual seed paper containing wonderful meadow wildflower and grass seeds! Made from recycled paper, the paper has a slight creamy tinge colourwise and is around 280 gsm. Pack of 10 A5 sheets. You could also buy some off cuts of seed paper. You will get 50 strips ranging in size from 45 – 15 cm in length. Each strip is approximately 4 cm in width. The strips are cut from a variety of paper types so you will get a good mix of seeds. Some strips may also have print on one or both sides – but this is cool as it will make whatever your cut out look patterned!
The paper may be suitable for printing on, depending on your printer and it can also be cut into shapes for wedding favours, gifts or even kids party bags, or handwritten on.
