Words: Paul Chapman
Main Image: Helen Rowan Photography
Christmas is just around the corner and hopefully we'll all get a few days off and some time with the family, eat some food, play some games and perhaps be lucky enough to open a present or two.
We put a call out to people to see how we might be able to make some changes and have a slightly more sustainable Christmas.
“How much food do you actually need? It is tradition to buy all of the trimmings, virtually bankrupting ourselves in the process, but 2 million turkeys, 5 million Christmas puddings and over 74 million mince pies are thrown away each year!
Claire Neale leads the Plastic Free Schools initiative suggests buying people experiences rather than physical gifts, and challenge yourself to cut out Sellotape; use paper which looks good, tied with ribbons Claire says "think really carefully about the wrapping you're using, if it's foil or plastic covered it's really difficult to recycle - do the rip test, if it tears easily it can be recycled"
Make your own gift tags from last year's cards. If your clothes have ribbon loops, rather than cutting them out and throwing them away, you could save them and use them to thread through your homemade gift tags.
Second hand and charity shops can be a great source of quirky gifts, giving items an extended life. Does Santa have a 'recycle grotto' where secondhand toys are given to a new owner to love and enjoy ... personally I like to think he does this already, what do you think?
Louie suggests "A family a secret (or not so secret) Santa approach to presents. This year we're putting names in a hat of the adults who want to opt in, drawing a name out and only buying for that one person in the group - we've agreed a price limit to keep it reasonable and fair."
Emma Knight-Strong suggests we; “Think about decorations; there is a lot of ‘disposable decorating’ as TV or social media tries to convince us to renew our Christmas decorations every year. Go old-school; upcycle and re-use the family decorations; swap decorations with friends and neighbours if you want something new and built to last. My grandmother still has Christmas decorations that were hand-made in the 1950s and the stories they tell when we see them each year are worth far more than a temporary fashion statement.
“How much food do you actually need? It is tradition to buy all of the trimmings, virtually bankrupting ourselves in the process, but 2 million turkeys, 5 million Christmas puddings and over 74 million mince pies are thrown away each year!
Think about food, do we always buy too much and never eat it all? Take a stand this year and avoid buying it in the first place.”
Kelly Bond from 13 Bends Design will be printing her own Christmas wrapping paper. "Elsie and Jack are making their own wrapping paper this year using spud painted sheets of paper. We are also using ribbon which can be reused, we are adding finishing touches to our special gifts using twigs and leaves which we will hunt for out and about nearer the time."
Whatever you do over the next few weeks, enjoy it, relax a bit, take some time to go outside, breathe the fresh air, and give yourself some space to prepare for 2020, whatever it might have in store for us.
Have a great Christmas and here's to 2020.
Paul.
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