How to Celebrate an Eco-Friendly Christmas
Christmas is all about festive cheer and goodwill. Unfortunately, between the big holiday meals and gift-giving, it can also mean a lot of waste. If you want to make your holiday greener, these awesome tips on how to have an eco-friendly Christmas can help.
1. Choose a Real Tree
If you’re ready to have an eco-friendly Christmas, one good place to start is with your Christmas tree. Even though you might think getting an artificial Christmas tree is more eco-friendly because you can use it year after year, it can actually contain some very dangerous chemicals and substances you don’t want your family exposed to.
Real Christmas trees are the more eco-friendly option. Real trees clean the air when they’re growing, provide jobs to local communities, and can be turned into mulch or compost when the holidays are over.
2. Get Eco-Friendly Gifts
Once you get your eco-friendly Christmas tree, it’s time to put some presents under it. The most sustainable gifts you can give are experience gifts, such as tickets to a sporting event or concert or membership to an aquarium, zoo, or museum.
If you prefer to give something your gift recipients can use, consider one of these great upcycled Christmas gifts to give new life to old items. You can also check out these top 15 eco-friendly gifts under $25.
3. Use Zero Waste Gift Wrap
After you decide which eco-friendly gifts to get, it’s time to wrap them. If you’re trying to create an eco-friendly Christmas, you don’t want to use traditional wrapping paper since you usually can’t recycle it. Instead, here are 8 amazingly easy zero waste gift wrap ideas you can use.
4. Use LED Lights
Making the switch from incandescent Christmas lights to LED Christmas lights offers a number of advantages. LED lights are cool to the touch, so they’re much safer than incandescent bulbs.
LED lights can also help you save money during the holidays since they use up to 75% less energy. Plus, they last 25 times as long as incandescent lights, so you won’t have to buy new ones every year.
If you really want to make your Christmas decorations more eco-friendly, you can even opt for solar Christmas lights and not have to worry about any increase to your electricity bill no matter how many lights you like to put up.
5. Send Plantable Christmas Cards
Sending Christmas cards is a yearly tradition for millions of people. Yet most of those cards simply end up in the trash. An e-card is the most eco-friendly option, but it can also feel a little impersonal.
That’s why I love Bloomin Seeds N’ Greetings Cards. The cards have embedded seeds that will grow flowers, herbs, or vegetables when planted.
Some designs are a 100% recycled paper card with an attached piece of seed paper. My personal favorite are the holiday tree cards. They have a beautiful design and the entire card is seed paper, so your recipients can plant the whole thing after the holidays.
6. Be Mindful About Your Food
The holidays are a popular time for gathering with friends and family for big feasts. While you certainly don’t have to give up these feasts to have an eco-friendly Christmas, it helps to put a little extra thought into them.
First, you want to make sure you plan your meal accordingly so you have as little food waste as possible. Ask your guests to bring their own reusable food storage containers so they can take leftovers home with them. Plus, don’t forget to compost any food scraps you can’t use.
When you’re buying ingredients for your meal, try to purchase as many organic and locally grown items as you can. When your food has to travel fewer miles to reach your dinner plate, it’s healthier and there are fewer carbon emissions released into the air.
7. Choose More Plant-Based Dishes
In addition to being more mindful about planning your dinner, you should also consider serving more plant-based dishes. Following a plant-based diet can have a major positive impact on global warming.
Here are over 100 vegetarian dishes that are delicious and simple to make. If you really want to make your meal more eco-friendly, you can completely eliminate all animal products by checking out these fantastic vegan recipes.
8. Clean up With Natural Products
Whether you’re preparing your house to receive guests or simply cleaning up after you’ve hosted everyone for the holidays, you don’t want to turn to store-bought cleaners that can contain all types of dangerous chemicals. Instead, you can clean up the natural way by making your own cleaning products.
Our DIY cleaning products category has plenty of excellent options to clean every room and surface in your house. Here are a few of our most popular posts:
- Homemade Dishwasher Detergent Without Borax
- Streak-Free Glass Cleaner
- Homemade Granite Cleaner
- All-Purpose Cleaner Without Vinegar
- DIY Hardwood Floor Cleaner
Celebrating an Eco-Friendly Christmas
Thanks to these simple tips, you can still enjoy all of your favorite holiday traditions without worrying about their environmental impact.
More Eco-Friendly Holiday Tips
Now that you see how easy it is to celebrate an eco-friendly Christmas, are you interested in making all of your holidays more sustainable? Then be sure to check out some of our other popular posts:
- How to Have an Eco-Friendly Valentine’s Day
- Celebrating an Eco-Friendly Easter
- Tips for Having an Eco-Friendly Halloween
- Simple Ways to Celebrate an Eco-Friendly Thanksgiving
