This time of the year is often one of overindulgence, but if the thought of wasted food, black bin liners full of used wrapping paper, and a pile of unwanted gifts is stressing you out - you may be wondering how to have a sustainable Christmas instead!
You'll be pleased to know that having an eco-friendly and sustainable family Christmas doesn't have to be complicated. In fact, even the smallest of changes can make a big difference! So, we've rounded up up our top sustainability tips and eco-friendly ideas for the festive period - covering food waste, eco-friendly gifts and wrapping, and other sustainability ideas for the festive season.
How not to overspend at Christmas and avoid waste
Waste at Christmas comes in many forms. It's easy to waste money on gifts, buy unwanted gifts or ones that kids will lose interest in, overspend in the supermarket, and not to mention waste food over the festive period. With a little thought and planning you can avoid overspending at Christmas and avoid waste. here are some ideas...
Sustainable gift packaging and presentation
Packaging is often where a lot of the waste occurs when it comes to gifts, so be mindful of how the things you want to buy as gifts come packaged - go for packaging that is easy to recycle by looking out for recycling symbols, and choose gift boxes or baskets that can be re-used to package your own gifts and food or product hampers.
Thrifty gift buying
If you're looking for solutions on how to avoid consumerism at Christmas, don't forget that gifts don't always have to be brand new. In fact, you can find some really good-quality clothes, toys and other gifts that are preloved items found in charity shops or online on sites like eBay that can help you achieve a minimal waste Christmas with small children. It's amazing what a bit of fancy packaging can do to elevate a second-hand gift. Plus, kids are really easy to please when they're young, and probably won't know the difference between a brand new soft toy and one you found donated. A good clean and it'll be given a new lease of life!
Don't forget that Christmas isn't all about buying presents either, it's the perfect opportunity to develop your own family Christmas traditions with your kids - like baking, doing crafts, playing board games and making homemade Christmas gifts for friends and neighbours.
Sustainable gifts
Why not go on the hunt for eco-friendly gifts for loved ones? From portable water bottles and cups to biodegradable lunchboxes, environmentally-friendly toiletries, and items made from bamboo or recycled materials - there are so many ideas. And they don't have to break the bank either, with many of these items being sold at affordable prices on Amazon. If you want to spend even less money and ensure even less waste, you can make and bake your own gifts - from scented candles, soaps and bath bombs to Christmas cookies and truffles.
How do you wrap Christmas presents eco friendly?
It might seem like a massive waste to wrap gifts in wrapping paper, only for it all to be ripped off, scrunched up and chucked away - but it's also really easy to take an eco-friendly approach to wrapping presents for friends and family. You just need to rethink the materials you use:
Use plastic-free wrapping paper and tape
Paper and tape is the easiest way to wrap gifts, but going for a greener alternative than many of the commercial options of Christmas wrap and tape available is what makes the difference, because it means you can recycle everything after your kids have finished opening their presents from Santa!
We love how natural and rustic plain brown paper looks when decorated with ribbon or twine. You can even get paper ribbon, and it comes in some fun colours to jazz up your gifts. Plus, if you're wanting to save some money old newspaper, book or magazine pages can make fun wrapping paper too, especially if you go for festive themes like photos of Christmas turkey, food or tree decorations.
Don't forget that brown paper tape is the perfect alternative to normal sticky tape, and it'll go seamlessly with your brown paper wrapping. For kids' gifts, why not try some fun, patterned, Christmas-themed washi tape that's biodegradable?
Pre-loved packaging for Christmas gifts
Families can get into the habit of saving the previous year's wrapping and gift boxes to use again the following year. Of course, you'll have to train your little ones to open their gifts more carefully, but you can make this into a game to see who can open their gifts without ripping the paper. Securing paper in place with ribbons, twine and washi tape instead of normal sticky tape can help kids to open their gifts carefully and avoid ripping the paper.
Other ways to repurpose old packaging is to save cardboard boxes, envelopes, and even toilet roll tubes throughout the year and then decorate them at Christmas to re-use for gift wrapping. You can decorate with paint, rubber stamps, and washi tape.
Fabric wrapping
Recycled ribbon is also a fun idea if you have old clothes that need to be thrown out that aren't suitable to be donated - just rip or cut the fabric into strips to make ribbon that you can use to create beautiful bows and to wrap around your gift boxes.
How about wrapping your gifts in fabric instead of paper? Families can make a habit of collecting squares of fabric for wrapping throughout the year. You could even get the sewing machine out and make all sorts of pouches and drawstring gift bags to wraps presents in, and these can be reused the following year too, or be given as gifts.
Foraging for gift wrap adornments
Foraging can be a fun family activity in the Autumn and winter months, and findings can be saved and used to adorn your Christmas gifts. Look out for festive, natural things like pine cones and twigs, holly and other leaves that can be pressed or dried out before using.
How to avoid food waste at Christmas
So much food gets wasted throughout the year, and this amount peaks towards Christmas, so when it comes to how to have a sustainable Christmas - it's all the more important to shop and cook mindfully so that you don't contribute to all that food waste. Here are some tips to help you reduce your food waste over Christmas...
Plan your meals and make a shopping list
If you take the time to plan meals for the family, it means you can make a shopping list that's easy to stick to when you're in the supermarket, and you'll be less likely to impulse buy. It's difficult to avoid impulse buying around Christmas when supermarkets are ramping up their marketing efforts in store, especially if you go in without a clear plan or good intentions.
Shop locally to avoid food miles and support local businesses
Local greengrocers and markets are a great way to avoid buying plastic-wrapped fruit and veg. You can go one step further and order a local veg box delivery, which often come from local farms, are plastic free and offer interesting wonky veggies that don't normally get included in commercially-wrapped supermarket-packaged vegetables. Your local butcher will also be able to measure out the amount of meat you actually need for your recipes, so you'll have less food leftovers using up space in your freezer or ending up in the bin.
Ways to reduce your food waste at home
Wondering if it's possible to have a waste free Christmas when it comes to food? Overcooking is common in families, but that's okay as long as you remember to serve up and eat your leftovers. There are loads of creative ways to repurpose leftovers to create yummy new meals that are easy and quick to whip up for the family. Having your own composting bin is also a great way of recycling leftover foods that you're unlikely to eat, like vegetable peelings.
You might want to consider cutting down on meat and dairy, as meat has a big carbon footprint. You could try out some vegetarian or vegan alternatives, or only eat meat dishes once or twice a week.
Get crafting for an eco-friendly family Christmas
There are loads of creative family Christmas craft activities for toddlers that can encourage young kids to think about sustainability at Christmas time. For example, making homemade Christmas tree decorations, and even homemade Christmas crackers! You can save loads of money by getting the kids to make Christmas cards for all the family and paper garlands to hang around the house, not to mention enjoy spending quality family time during the most special time of the year.
Proud aunt to her teen niece, Zara Mohammed is a Digital Writer for Mother&Baby. She has 10 years freelance writing experience creating lifestyle content for various platforms, including pregnancy, women’s health, parenting, child development and child mental health, plus lots of fun seasonal family articles and celebrity news.