It's Christmas morning. The sweet smell of Christmas pine is in the air. Christmas carols are playing gently in the background. You haven't bothered to get changed out of your pyjamas yet and you stare at all the presents under the tree through puffy morning eyes.
Before you know it all the presents have been unwrapped, and it looks like a bomb has gone off, leaving crumpled Christmas wrap, packaging and ribbons EVERYWHERE!!!! Wouldn't it be great to have a Christmas with none of that to clean up? And saving all that rubbish from going to the landfill? This is something I have been thinking about as Christmas approaches.
The first idea I came up with was, recycling gift bags and wrapping paper. My grandmother was an expert at this. Every Christmas we would all unwrap our presents with the utmost care, not to rip the paper because Oma wanted to save every little piece to reuse next Christmas. Anything can be used as wrapping paper though. I recently bought some gifts online and they came packaged with brown paper. I have been saving this away to use as Christmas wrap. It will look beautiful with a recycled bow, or if you are creative you could paint some Christmassy designs on it. What a nice touch! If you really want to avoid all the mess though, I would go with gift bags or boxes. I have so many gift bags saved up in the cupboard. You can redecorate them for any occasion and it saves the mess. You could even save up plain old cardboard boxes and decorate them or put a bow on them.
But what about those gifts (especially toys) that come with all that packaging?! For me it's simple. I try to avoid them. I try to buy gifts that don't have packaging. Even better, MAKE gifts! I have made jam, candles and body scrub as gifts before. They look so nice when you put them in a cute little jar, and your friends and family will know you really put some effort into their gift. Another great idea - give a keep cup, reusable straws, honey wrap, or anything else that will help your friends and family life a waste free life.
But what about the kids? Buy stuff they actually need, don't buy more toys when the toy box is overflowing. Ok, you will probably have to buy a couple of toys to avoid disappointment, but there are toys you can buy with no packaging. And to avoid the toy box overflowing, I make a trip to a charity store every now and then to drop off toys that don't get used anymore. Your local charity shop can also be a great place to find toys your kid may want! They don't always want toys though, my son says he wants scissors and socks... interesting but very practical!
For me, the best part of Christmas as an adult is getting together with family for the biggest and best feast of the year. Christmas dinner! This is the one night of the year that you don't have to feel guilty about what, and how much you eat!!! Go for gold I say. But how can we have a waste free Christmas dinner? Let me give you some hints. Cloth napkins look and feel so much nicer than paper ones, and they eliminate the need for paper ones that will end up in the trash! I use them all year round, trust me, it's worth the investment. They don't actually cost that much. Buy all your ingredients at a bulk bin or refillery and fill up your jars. Get a soda stream to make your own soda and fizzy drinks! (This is on my to do list). Buy your Christmas ham or turkey from a butcher that doesn't wrap it in plastic. Maybe take your own container or roasting dish for them to put it in. And last but not least... compost! Use your bokashi bin or worm farm for all your scraps.
I can't wait for Christmas, the count down is on! Only 8 days to go! Hopefully enough time to finish sorting out all the odds and ends in preparation for Christmas. I have bought all the presents, so that's a good start! I will be on holiday for a month now (yay!) so I will be taking a bit of a break from the blog, but I will be back in the new year. Happy Holidays, and happy waste free living!
Maria
