This morning I noticed that
Shinningstar had posted an article re the amount of waste we generate at Christmas.
This got me thinking - it's got to be the most commercial and wasteful event of the year, so surely it's an ideal thing to start trying to "green"
Let's see what ideas we can come up with - if you have any ideas how to have a more sustainable Christmas, please add them on. Some may be more expensive, but others, I'm sure, will help you save money. Is there anything you do each year, or anything that you'd like to do? Let's see what we can come up with...
For a start:
Food
If you must have meat, then go organic and locally farmed
Order a box for your fruit and veg (Abel and Cole do a great Christmas box for those of you who are in the UK, and they'll deliver it anywhere in the UK. Ideally though, look for more local schemes - may be the local farmer does something as a special for Christmas.
Don't over do it - I know Christmas is a time when the diet is out of the window, but that doesn't mean you have to buy and cook 3 times the normal amount (I can never work out why everyone else seems to be loading their trolley so high at Christmas - OK, you've got guests, but that must mean that they are buying less...)
Presents
try to make them - if you've got kids, there are loads of sites around for ideas for present making. Try here for a start. Or why not try making sweets - marzipan or fudge - and then making a box to put them in. Homemade gifts are appreciated so much more, generally cost a lot less, and are more likely to be used / eaten.
I remember making lots of pencil pots for family out of toilet roll holders covered in fabric or painted - I'm sure my Granny still uses hers now.
Travel
On the day, walk or cycle, don't drive - it means you can have a drink as well. Or at least have one person on pick up / drop off duty so that there aren't so many cars on the roads. Walking or cycling helps you build the appetite and then work off the enormous meal you have.
Have the smaller group of family / friends travel to the larger group - few people, less pollution, less cost.
Decorations
Again, make them. Use last year's Christmas cards - cut out shapes, stick glitter on them and hang them on the tree.
Make a snow man out of a toilet roll covered in cotton wool, with a ball of wool for the head and stick on eyes, nose and mouth.
Rather than lots of tinsel (nasty plastic.....) make traditional paper chains to trail across the room - you could even paint newspaper and cut it into strips to use.
For wrapping, well try not to go overboard - the paper is bad enough (make sure you recycle the waste and the paper after opening) but the curling ribbon is not good..... so try using jute or string instead. You can have some very stylish wrapping with brown paper and jute string.
I could go on for ages with ideas of gifts to make for various members of the family, but I'll stop for now. If you've any ideas, please add them on.
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Replying to this comment:
Ever since i was a kid, I've made Christmas sweets and then put them in homemade card board boxes with bows and given them as gifts. We always had a plate of home made sweets around on the day itself for everyone to help themselves rather than boxes of Cadbury's and Nestle chocolates.
one of the good things about making your own sweets and cookies is that you can make them as "green" as you like by selecting appropriate ingredients. Try some of the following:
Marzipan shapes - if you've young kids around, more than likely they'll love playing with Play-doh, so substitute this with Marzipan (use food colourings so that you have an array of colours) and add sugar strands, grated chocolate, melted chocolate and anything else you can think of to decorate them.
A family favourite has always been chocolate marzipan cherries - flatten a small piece of marizpan (about the size of a cherry) and us it to cover a glace cherry. Then cut in half and using cocktail sticks and forks (or whatever combination you find works best as this can be a messy process) dip it in melted plain chocolate, then put it to dry on greaseproof paper.
truffles
melt chocolate (preferrably plain), mix in liquer (if desired) and cream, then add lots of icing sugar until it thickens and roll into balls. You can then dust them in cocoa powder, icing sugar, sugar strands... up to you
I'm going to be trying some with soya milk / cream this year so that our son can help make them (although he may want to eat the mix first.... could be a challenge)
Fudge
Well, you could cheat and melt mars bars with a bit of extra chocolate and then add icing sugar, or you could go the whole hog and make it from scratch. It all depends upon how adverterous you are. There are lots of recipes around, so I wont provide any now.
As well as this you can do things like a toffee or fudge mix with chopped nuts, dried fruit and seeds in it. They look odd, but always go down well. Or add cherries to your truffles - a really nice combination.
Really your imagination (and tolerance for mess) are the only limits here, so have fun. I'll have to start making ours soon - the marzipan ones last for a long time, but remember if they have cream in they wont keep for as long (from people eating or the elements!)
HAVE FUN! :)
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