Making Christmas more eco- friendly

This is so worthy it wears me out. I'll never keep up. Most homemade presents made by me are disastrous. Searching charity shops for presents sounds joyless. I love trees and lights and sending and receiving Christmas cards.
Would it be alright if I just found crackers with only hats and mottos and kept away from foil wrapping paper? But what about kitchen foil? Baking paper doesn't suit every purpose and are we supposed to abandon clingfilm and freezer bags for the duration? Palais Winterwhite might find that a bit of a challenge as well.

Don’t have to ditch crackers. Bought mine from RSPB website. Ethical crackers no plastic tat inside, instead palm-oil free chocolates.

Don't bother with any of it. Go on a nice long walk and collect some greenery which you can display in a vase from a charity shop.

Get some nice food and watch a film.

Result.

Although not Xmas related, on the theme of eco friendly, we are celebrating our Coral wedding anniversary this year by sponsoring a coral nursery in the sea off Kao Sami, Thailand.

Mischief - where did you buy the ink stamps from?

I am lucky with a large garden but always forage for holly and Ivy from garden for making Xmas wreaths and to decorate the plinth mantle.

Love that idea Rosyanne

We buy our Christmas tree direct from the plantation where it grew and I decorate mainly with evergreen greenery from my garden or cut from hedgerows on my daily walk. I rarely buy decorations because all that I have I carefully pack away after Christmas to be used the following year. Some of my decorations date back to my childhood (1950s) and even a few from my parent's childhood (1920s).

I bought fabric and made a beautiful Christmas tablecloth about 30 years ago that is still in use as are the cloth napkins, and the golden plastic placemats I use. I have had those about 30 years as well.

I'm making my own Christmas crackers this year. Toilet roll inner tubes, snaps from amazon, brown paper or junk mail decorated by screen printing and perforated with an old needle in the sewing machine for easier pulling, odd bits of old ribbon from the stash to tie the ends and a £1 scratch card inside. Ta-da! (And a lot of fun making them. Might get the grandsons involved.)

Lizzy you can buy the snaps too if you want them.

No, I think that we will be having a full fat Christmas here!

Email a Christmas greeting and donate cost of cards / postage to charity........

A lot of paper for gift wrapping is not recyclable and won't be accepted by the bin-men if you put it in the paper collection.

I sometimes use cloth bags for wrapping presents in, or brown paper that is recyclable with ribbon or tape that can be re-used.

I do all my own Christmas baking and cooking from scratch.

We try to wish for and buy presents we know the person receiving them either wants or needs.

I do use paper napkins at Christmas, but not at any other time of the year.

Our local recycling scheme specifies that wrapping paper (without glitter) can be put in the recycling bin. The same goes for greetings cards. But this varies from one authority to another.

Apparently Dunelm are doing eco friendly crackers. We have agreed a small budget for presents this year

In regards to Christmas trees, we have a local place where you can have a real tree allocated to you, you have the tree over the Christmas period, and they will come pick it up, plant it back and start again all over the next year. I'll see if I can find a link

www.loveachristmastree.co.uk/

This is one of many, if you have a search for Christmas tree rental, one will be nearby

Really cutting back this year as only buying for DGC ×3, OH, 3 adult CH, and DIL. that's it. All the rest will get cards probably posted as we're moving away. Will save a lot of money as I usually buy for sisters nieces nephews great nieces and nephews, daughter's friends children etc. (nearly 40 altogether) but we're on pension now, both not working so can no longer afford it.

Scale it all down, make your own decorations and crackers (with something nice inside), wrap things in new tea towels or pillowcases and string (all useful) and buy just for the kids. Have a secret Santa (Elfster) with a £20 limit for the adults - and get something you actually want. Take food or drink for hosts. Enjoy it as it's just one day. What we do on all the other days is far more important!

I’ve just bought visit to Tutankhamen exhibition for one. Last year sponsored a donkey. Wish I could think of more ideas!
Every year think I won’t send cards, but then relent. They are the only bit of Christmas I like!

I am going to try wrapping gifts in scarves, like the ones sold in Lush - you just tie them round your gift. I'd like to not be using paper at all. For years I've been saving all the reasonably good stuff after I've carefully unwrapped my gifts - and using that again the next year so I seldom buy any new- but recycling wrapping paper isn't easy - many Councils don't collect it. It seems to compost down ok as long as you can remove the sellotape first, but obviously reducing is better. than recycling. We should probably try to avoid buying rolls or sheets wrapped in plastic! I have cotton napkins too - been using them for years, they are very festive with a holly motif, I think I bought them from a charity catalogue yonks ago - trying always to avoid disposable anything.

I'm doing my bit by NOT killing a tree or leaving its poor carcass out on the kerb for the New Year bin men. I deplore the practice.

Nor am I having a plastic one.

I shall probably prune the Manuka overhanging my deck and use those very fragrant branches in a vase. I have some beautiful old cloisonne stars and baubles I may hang from them.

My olive wood Nativity set, from Bethlehem, bought over 50 years ago, may come out.

But as I shan't be here this Christmas, maybe I won't bother with any of it.

Thus saving the world single-handed

use threaded pop corn for tinsel. then throw out for birds afterwards...(taken from little house on the prairie books)....get grandchildren to make baubles with collage/cardboard...little baskets of home made sweets...

i got plenty of ink christmas stamps .that i dont want.find me on facebook. i live in croydon.......greater london..