Gecco's Blog

Christmas is a huge discussion point in many ‘green’ households, who frown upon the super-consumerist element to the modern day festive season. I could not begin to comment on all aspects of the festive season, but here are a few of my eco tips to help reduce the seasonal footprint of your gifts this year.

Presents

Gift an Experience

Clearly, we can all stop and take stock of the gifts we chose to buy our loved ones and the amount of packaging involved in each of them. We can look at gifting an experience, such as an hours pony trek for a beloved niece, or the wonderful gift of time, such as a weekend digging over Granddad’s allotment.

Make it Yourself

This might take a little time and skill, but where there is a will there is usually a way and handmade gifts mean so much more. A couple of years ago, I came into a wide range of discontinued hanging fabric samples and with the help of some beautiful beads and my trusty sewing machine, turned them into stunning table runners for the women in my life.

Good friends of ours have taken a different tack this year and have each chosen one person in the family to make a gift for. Even the children are getting involved with things like home-made chocolates, sewing a cushion and a collage of photos of the grandchildren for Grandma. There are countless ideas once you start to think about it. One piece of advice however, is to start early as many things take more than a couple of weeks to make!

Buy Used

Have you ever spent time wandering through second hand stores and markets? There is a treasure trove of used goods waiting to be found and given a new home. Second-hand books, picture frames, crockery and glassware all make fabulous gifts full of character and history. Some people are even making a business out of reselling the gorgeous vintage jewellery that can often be found in your local antique store. Half the fun is looking!

Buy Nothing - Check out this link to the best tip on what to buy someone who has everything!

Wrapping it Up

This is another bug bear of mine. At the end of the unwrapping on Christmas morning when the kids have moved on to playing with their new gear, we are left with a mountain (or bin liner) full of wrapping paper, bows and cards and bringing it to the bin outside makes me want to weep. Here are a few ideas to help reduce the mountain.

Recycled Paper

For the past few years I have insisted on using paper that is 100% recycled, but good recycled paper is hard to find. The last few years I have bought it from the NSPCC card catalogue which has a few well designed rolls that are not too expensive and this year I was thrilled to find some in my local Oxfam shop with great patterns on!

Brown Parcel Paper

I love the look of recycled brown paper and often use it for wrapping. It is especially good  for adding some personal touches like stamps or kids drawings to the outside of a gift.

The added Touch

You can get quite creative with ribbons and bows at Christmas time and I love using Raffia which comes in lots of different colours. I also love the look of a sprig of holly or evergreen tied to a parcel wrapped in brown paper. It is simple yet so effective.

Gift Cards

I know that fewer and fewer people are sending Christmas cards these days and though I lament their passing as a means of wishing good cheer, I do not appreciate throwing a mound of cards into the recycling box after a week or two on the mantelpiece. We have been taking our Christmas cards each year and cutting them into funky gift tags for use the following year. Once again, the paper has a second life before it goes to be recycled and they can look great!

The Christmas Message Letter

Being married to an American usually means a series of Christmas Messages from friends and family in the US, in the form of an electronic message with photos attached. Some people in the UK dislike these letters as they appear to be full of self praise, but they are a great ‘green’ way to send Christmas greetings and what goes into them is entirely up to you. I know that I love to receive news from friends and take a look at some photos of their past year. We live in a digital age and I guess the Christmas letter is the digital way of saying ‘Merry Christmas to one and All’

That just leaves me with the task of wishing all our customers a Merry Christmas and a prosperous and healthy New Year! We hope to hear from you all soon.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 11:24 am and is filed under Green Home. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.