If you want a sustainable Christmas or festive season, you’ll need to put a bit of mental effort into it, so best to start thinking about it now, or you’ll end up on Amazon on Dec 20th. Here are ten sustainable Christmas suggestions:
- Make it or create it or upcycle it yourself
- Make your own Christmas decorations
- Order or at least check out where to get organic or Fair Trade Christmas Dinner ingredients
- Sustainable delicious food, from Zaytoun for instance, makes excellent gifts
- Give an experience – tickets to music, art, theatre, sports, eating out, courses (on making things)
- Give plants (even better if you have a plant which can be propagated) (and watch out for peat)
- Buy second-hand if you know the recipient won’t turn their nose up – if you’re always out scanning the racks for yourself, then start thinking about others too
- Promise your time – an hour of ironing, an afternoon of weeding the garden, taking care of a DIY job…
- Get people together to do a Secret Santa to reduce the number of gifts everyone is committed to – next step, make it a sustainable Secret Santa
- Don’t forget to mention why you’re doing it, to spread the message about sustainability as well as Bethlehem
NB Don’t forget about Green Christmas Trees