Greening Your Holiday
Posted by Paige
I love working in the Eco-Shop in December. Everyone is in a great mood. People are busying themselves getting ready for their kids to get out of school, preparing to see family and bubbling about holiday festivities. It’s been fun hearing what folks are doing and how they are making less of an impact on the Earth this year (or continuing from years past!)
I wanted to open up the discussion to hear what you and your family do to be a little Greener for the holidays!
Some of my favorites are:
- Making Recycled Christmas Tree Ornaments - I’ve seen (and heard) of using everything from toilet paper rolls to pine cones as decorations on the tree.
- Burning Beeswax Candles around the house or at the holiday table. Paraffin candles leave soot on the walls and in the air we breath, so beeswax candles are not only Eco-friendly, they are healthier too.
- Buying a locally grown Christmas tree from a no-spray farm.
- Using newspaper or brown bags from around the house to gift wrap. Some of the prettiest wrapped packages I’ve seen use decorated Kraft paper.
- Opting for simple giving - one family each picked a charity that was important to them and each made a donation rather than swapping gifts.
- Decorating with LED holiday lights. Not only is this a huge energy saver, up to 70% more efficient, these are less of a fire hazard in your home.
What is your GREEN tradition?
I’ve always turned the previous year’s Christmas cards into gift tags. For wrapping, I try to use baskets or some other reusable packaging (like a cloth napkin, or linen towel), or recycled paper wrapping. And growing up, my parents would always buy a live tree, then plant it in the spring.
I’m one of those kooky people that saves wrapping paper. Good wrapping paper is expensive, so I open presents and re-use the wrapping paper whenever it is salvagable. I do the same with gift bags, but I think everyone does that!
We bought a used artificial tree this year from a friend’s garage (we are the third family to use it). No more need to cut down trees and release carbon needlessly into the atmosphere. :-) We also are making special Christmas napkin rings out of toilet paper rolls, and ornaments out of can lids.
We always off-set our travel carbon output at terrapass.com. Another good idea for gifts, carbon credits to offset someone’s car for a year, also at terrapass.com. Thanks for the other great ideas.