Note: this blog post contains affiliate links. All opinions are my own and it won’t cost you anything extra to use them. It will help to support the blog though. Thanks!

Join my Zero Waste Christmas Facebook group

I have started up a Facebook group, where people can share ideas about how to have a zero waste Christmas. You are welcome to post pictures of things you have made,or about your business as long as it is relevant. Come and join it here: Zero Waste Christmas Facebook Group.

Kickstart your Christmas on a budget, by keeping food waste low

Food gives off methane in landfill – a potent greenhouse gas. Reduce food waste in the first place, by avoiding buying more food than needed. It is such a win-win because you get to eat all the same luxury foods you would have done. But you might buy less, which costs less. Or you will make the most of what you have, which gives you the best value out of what you bought.

Do a Christmas meal plan and make a shopping list from that. When you get to the shops (or order online), make sure you stick to the list! If there are leftovers freeze them if possible, to use another time. Also come and join my Reduce Your Food Waste Facebook group community, where you can ask for help if you are stuck on how to use up leftovers. For some general ideas to prevent food waste, check out my round up of use it up ideas.

Buy Eco Friendly festive gifts or make your own eco-friendly budget Christmas presents

If you want to get your friends and family sustainable gifts this year check out my list of sustainable gifts your friends and family will love. I’ve included suggestions for him, her, couples, families, experience gifts, book gifts, kitchen gifts and homemade gifts in there. Plus I also have some suggestions for how to stop unwanted gifts.

Ditch the single use disposable wrapping paper

Swap disposable wrapping paper for reusable and upcycled versions. Wrap gifts in fabric. Or save things from your recycling to wrap gifts in.

If you like a challenge, take the Cut The Wrap challenge and pledge not to use any single use disposable wrapping paper this festive season. If you need some help with this, check out my beautiful eco-friendly ways to wrap up gifts. Also if you want some more in depth information come and sign up to my Sustainable Gift Wrapping Online Course.

Swap Christmas cards for e-cards and other alternatives

Instead of sending cards this year, speak to friends and family and wish them well in person. Other options include sending e-cards and/ or telling friends and family that instead of sending cards this year you are going to make a donation to charity.

In Mike Berners Lee’s book How Bad Are Bananas – the carbon cost of everything, he says that an email costs between 0.2g and 26g of CO2e (Carbon Dioxide Equivalent). Whereas a letter costs between 280g and 350g CO2e. You can significantly lower your carbon impact by sending e-cards over real ones! To make your e-card free, design a Christmas card in Canva (you can get a free account) and share the picture in your email.

Make your own budget Christmas Advent calendar

Make an inexpensive and fun advent calendar with some clean socks or small bags on a line with numbers pinned on them. Fill with a small gift of your choice e.g. a coin, a love note, or a chocolate. If you want to make your own fillers, this homemade condensed milk fudge is delicious. Wrap them up in little swatches of sterilised fabric (and save for next time afterwards). Or put them in small jam jars or pots.

Consider the Christmas tree options

A Christmas tree doesn’t have to be an actual tree. It could be a large houseplant that you decorate once a year or a wall hanging you put up for Christmas each year. You can even get creative with this and make something like this upcycled pallet Christmas tree.

If you want to get an actual tree, it has been concluded that a real tree is better for the environment than a fake tree.

Dispose of real Christmas trees properly

If you buy a real tree, make sure that it gets recycled afterwards. This is because in landfill it can give off methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide.

Use reusable Christmas crackers

Instead of having disposable Christmas crackers, you can opt out. Alternatively buy or make some reusable crackers and stuff them with your own less wasteful gifts.

I was sent some reusable Christmas crackers by Keep this Cracker to review and I have some to giveaway (see the bottom of this article). They come flat packed and in two parts, with snaps that you add in. Because they are in two parts, when you pull them apart, the only thing that breaks is the snap. They aren’t cheap, but should last a few years.

You do need to add in your own fillings, but there are loads of festive jokes online you could use. Either leave out the hats, or have reusable ones outside of the crackers. As for the gifts, it depends on your budget. Something like these pill/ money keyrings could be good. I have one and keep a rolled up £10 note in it. So, if I go out and I’ve forgotten my wallet, I still have some money on my keys. Whatever you choose, they will probably be better than the gifts that usually come in crackers!

An easy win for Christmas on a budget – stop buying a new Christmas jumper every year

Instead of buying a Christmas jumper every year for yourself and / or your kids, get Christmas decorations that can be reused each year on your regular jumpers.  For example these Christmas brooches would work and would make great stocking or Christmas cracker fillings too. If you have kids and you don’t want them to have brooches, instead you could buy sew on motifs. Don’t iron them on, just sew them on. This allows you to unpick them and reuse them on a different top the year after (in case they outgrow the original one).

If you don’t like the above idea, you could buy a jumper in a charity shop / secondhand. Then wear it throughout the Christmas season and every year afterwards until it wears out. The final option of course is to simply opt out.

Do a Christmas clothes swap

One of the items in your Christmas budget, might be new clothes. Swap buying new clothes for Christmas get togethers for buying secondhand clothes. Or if you are able to get together in person, do a clothes swap with friends for a wardrobe refresh.

Try a vegan or vegetarian Christmas dinner

Vegan food has gone mainstream. There are many vegan alternatives available in supermarkets and restaurants now, which taste really good. Instead of having a turkey dinner at every event you get invited to, why not give the vegan or vegetarian option a try. 

Ask guests to bring a dish

If you are having people over for a meal (and we are able to), instead of doing everything yourself, ask guests to make part of the meal. You could do a pot luck or ask for something specific (tip: check that the person you ask is happy to bring that item first!). When I’ve done this in the past, I’ve asked people not to bring other things like flowers and chocolates and to bring a dish instead. This will really help with your Christmas on a budget and makes life much easier if you are a host!

Borrow furniture, crockery and glasses

Would you like to invite more people over than you have seats, cutlery, crockery and glasses for? You don’t need to go out and buy these things. Ask guests to bring them with. They have some folding or camping chairs they could bring for example.

Another tip is to buy the items you need secondhand and sell them on afterwards, or to give them to charity. This is useful if you don’t have space to store them throughout the year.

So many ways to have a luxurious and eco-friendly Christmas on a budget!

As you can see there are lots of ways you can save money at Christmas time. It is also better for the environment. Once you get into the swing of it, you will find that you aren’t missing out on anything. You are just doing things a bit differently. You might even find that you can have an even better Christmas. This is because you don’t need more money, just different ideas, to get all the furniture, clothes, food and decorations you want at this time of year!

The post How to have a luxurious eco-friendly Christmas on a budget. appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

Note: This blog post contains affiliate links and I was sent some Wrag Wrap to review/ giveaway.

Eco friendly wrapping paper alternatives course and the #CutTheWrap Challenge

Last year I set the challenge to not use any single use wrapping paper over the festive season at all. I think it is relevant every year! Find out why and pledge to take the challenge here: Cut The Wrap Challenge. When you sign up to the challenge, you can then join my newly formed Zero Waste Christmas Facebook Group. It’s a group to share ideas over keeping waste low over Christmas.

This blog post can help you with the challenge. However there are so many ways to wrap up gifts beautifully and with the environment in mind, that I am setting up a course on the subject! It will be fun, filled with tutorials for different gift wrapping ideas and is going live on 23rd November. It will be ready in plenty of time for you to wrap up your gifts in time for the festive season. Find out more here to pre book your place and get an early bird discount: Sustainable Gift Wrapping Course

Eco friendly alternatives to wrapping paper

Once you have your sustainable gifts sorted, these eco friendly ways of wrapping them will give them the perfect finish! You could also add upcycled gift tags to them to take it one step futher

The fabric eco friendly wrapping paper alternative

One of my favourite techniques for wrapping gifts in fabric is Furoshiki. It’s a Japanese wrapping style that is elegant and involves zero waste! It is a bit like origami for gift wrapping!

There loads of ways to wrap up your gifts in fabric aside from Furoshiki. You can wrap up gifts with fabric and string. Or put the gifts in fabric gift bags or sacks. If you can sew, these gift bags made out of festive pyjamas are a fun upcycling project and look great.

Another way of wrapping up gifts in fabric is to use Wrag Wrap. I first found out about it at a local Zero Waste Christmas market. Wrag wrap is reusuable and is made of recycled plastic. It comes in a variety of beautiful colours and patterns and looks really attractive. Wrag wrap crackles when you use it, so that it sounds a bit like paper folding as some people said they miss that with fabric wrap. It isn’t cheap and is a bit fiddly to wrap up with, but it is fun and looks great! Tip: I found it a bit tricky to wrap up soft items in this, but boxes or books work well.

Use items from your recycling

There are lots of things that you would usually put in your recycling that makes fun gift wrap. For example colourful pages from old magazines or kids artwork. Check out some more ideas here: Saved from the recycling – beautiful ways to wrap gifts

The no wrap method

You don’t have to wrap up a gift to make it exciting. Obviously you could just hand the person a gift unpackaged. But if you want to make it more fun, hide the gifts around your home and set up a treasure hunt. If you need help with this, I’ve written a handy list of Treasure Hunt Clues for around the house.

As you can see there are lots of ways to wrap up gifts whilst bearing the environment in mind. So come and sign up for the Cut the Wrap Challenge and why not treat yourself and/or a friend to my sustainable gift wrap course

For more ideas about how to save money and the environment at Christmas time, check out this post: How to have a luxurious eco friendly Christmas on a budget

Wrag Wrap and Keep This Cracker Giveaway

Next week I will be reviewing reusuable Christmas crackers by Keep This Cracker on the blog and I am giving some away alongside this Wrag Wrap bundle. They are the perfect combination to help you on your way to an eco -friendly and zero waste Christmas.

You can enter the giveaway below. None of the options are compulsory, but you must choose at least one option to enter. The more you do the more chances you have to win. If you purchase access to the Sustainable Gift Wrapping course you will get 5 entries to the competition. If you sign up to the mailing list and the Cut The Wrap challenge, you will get 3 entries and you will get one entry per relevant Instagram follow. The competition closes at midnight on the 3rd December – full terms and conditions here. Good luck everyone!

The post Beautiful eco friendly ways to wrap up gifts. Plus a festive giveaway! appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

Note: This blog post contains affilate links. It won’t cost you anything extra to shop through them and all opinions are my own.

Sustainable gift experiences for families and couples

Experience gifts can be a lot of fun and don’t need to be disposed of afterwards. Not all experience gifts are eco-friendly though e.g. motor car racing or trips to Barcelona. So look for experience gifts that are good for the planet too like National Trust membership and these eco friendly experience gifts for kids, families and couples.

Homemade and homegrown sustainable gifts

Homemade and homegrown sustainable gifts can show that a lot of thought went into a gift. Plus you can have complete control over the materials and ingredients that go into them and how they are packaged. Check out these ideas for homemade and homegrown gifts, which include things like making fudge, or bath salts. But before you go into production remember to double check the gift will be wanted! Another option along these lines, is to give your help or skills as gift.

I find that homegrown or homemade gifts make great small festive or end of year gifts for teachers.

Secret Santa gifts

Secret Santa gifts are often a bit of a joke. People give each other things like this nothing as a gift. It is a plastic empty ball, totally ridiculous. I can’t believe quite how many people have paid that amount of money for it and reviewed it! You get a few laughs out of it and then the gift is put to one side and either gotten rid of, or collects dust at the back of a cupboard.

Don’t give people a load of tat this year. Instead check out my list of alternatives to Secret Santa – they include things like giving experience gifts, or donating to charity instead.

Eco friendly gifts for him

Perhaps an experience or homemade offering isn’t going to cut it and you want an eco-friendly gift you can put in his hands.

Of course it depends on what he likes, but I’ve put together a list of suggestions here: Sustainable gifts for him. They include things like getting him a reusable coffee mug or cork wallet.

Sustainable gifts for her

Again sometimes only a physical gift will do. A lovely gift that doesn’t cost anything is to give her some jewellery that you already own. My parents gave me some earrings and a bracelet that had once belonged to my grandma’s for my birthday one year and I loved it!

If you want some ideas of gifts to buy, I have some suggestions here: 5 top eco friendly gifts for women, which include bamboo sunglasses and a cork leather handbag

Eco friendly gifts for everyone

For the baker or cook

I love cooking and enjoy using pieces of equipment in the kitchen that do the job really well. Especially if they are long lasting, great quality and are good for the environment. For some ideas for gifts like this, check out this list of my favourite eco-friendly kitchen products. There are some great products listed like Fig and Pickle battery free scales.

For the bookworm

There are some brilliant books out there about being eco-friendly (including my Eco Thrifty Living book – obviously I’m slightly biased though). Some are practical, some are entertaining and some are educational. Check out my handy list of Sustainable living books for a gift for the book lover in your life!

Sustainable wrapping and gift tags

If it makes sense to avoid buying gifts with excess single use packaging, then it also makes sense not to add your own! Yes it is more fun when gift is wrapped up, but do it sustainably! There are loads of options for sustainable gift wrap, including using brown paper from packages you have received and popping the gift in a reusable bag without wrapping. Check out my tips for alternatives to gift wrapping here: wrapping paper alternatives (scroll down to the bottom to find links to more ideas).

Take your gift to the next level and make your own gift tags from upcycled materials too!

How can you spot a sustainable or eco friendly gift?

if none of these ideas quite did it for you, then I have a few more suggestions to help you before you go shopping. The terms sustainable and eco-friendly are quite vague and could cover a variety of qualities. So I’m going to break down into bite sized chunks, what I think makes a gift sustainable.

1. Do they want the sustainable gift?

Before worrying about the eco credentials of an item, first we need to ask if the gift is wanted? It’s a waste of your money and the resources that went into the gift if it isn’t. Check out these 10 easy ways to stop unwanted gifts to avoid that problem.

2. Is the gift genuinely sustainable?

What is the product made of, how is it packaged and where did it come from? It is difficult to find a product that ticks all the sustainable boxes. But some things you might want to do are:

• Avoid single use excess packaging. Gifts often come with lots of packaging.
• Where possible, get things second hand, upcycled or made from recycled materials.
• Look for good quality items that will be long lasting (where relevant).
• Find items that are easy to repair if something goes wrong with it.
• Avoid perishable items like flowers, that are flown in, or hot housed out of season.
• Check it doesn’t contain any nasty chemicals and try to avoid unsustainable materials where possible.
• Avoid greenwashing

It is likely that no gift will be perfectly eco friendly or sustainable, so focus on choosing one that has features that you are happy with.

Happy gift hunting – hope you find gifts that will be loved!

By the way if you are looking for ideas about how to save money and the environment at Christmas time, you will like this post: How to have a luxurious eco friendly Christmas on a budget

The post Sustainable gifts your friends and family will love appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

When I wrote this blog post I was really excited because I was about to go on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s hour. The topic for discussion was can you really have an eco-friendly budget Christmas?

My answer was and still is – most definitely yes! There are lots of things that you can do to make your Christmas eco-friendly on a budget!

Update: This blog post was written in 2019. Check out my Christmas tips for 2020 here: How to have a luxurious eco friendly Christmas on a budget

My 3 top tips for having an eco-friendly budget Christmas include:

1. Don’t waste food!

According to a study done by Warburtons, this festive season ‘Wasteful Brits will throw away’:

• 130 million sprouts
• 93 million roast potatoes
• 85 million helpings of stuffing
• 91 million slices of turkey
• Enough gravy to fill an Olympic swimming pool
• 82 million roasted parsnips
• 77 million pigs in blankets.
• 60 million glasses of wine
• 63 million glasses of flat beer.

They also found that on average households will make enough food to feed 3 extra people.

How can you avoid food waste?

First of all do a meal plan for the festive season and try to only buy what you need. If you would prefer to have too much food in case of surprise visitors and so on, have a plan for what to do with any leftovers so they don’t go to waste. Here are some examples.

The freezer is your friend

As long as it has only been cooked once, you can freeze most things including gravy, cheese, leftover roast potatoes, turkey, wine and beer. Shred leftover turkey to use in curries, stir fries, on pizzas, in pies and more! Save the gravy, wine and beer to use in cooking- tip freeze in icecube trays and then decant into a reusable freezer proof container. You could make a white wine sauce or a something and beer or ale pie! Use the cheese up in sauces and just reheat the potatoes when you want to eat them.

Use things up in ways you hadn’t thought of before

For example someone in my Reduce Your Food Waste Facebook group said that she always ends up with leftover mincemeat from the jar after she has made mince pies. Turns out there is a lot of things you can do with it e.g. use as an ingredient in apple crumble or have it as a topping on icecream. By the way I’m not talking about raw meat, I’m talking about the chutney that goes in mince pies! If you always have cranberry sauce leftover use it as a spread in leftover turkey sandwiches.

Give away the leftovers

You could make up meal parcels for homeless people. Another way to give food away is via sites like Olio , Freecycle and Freegle

For more ideas for how to use up leftover foods check out my bumper list of ideas here: Food waste – a challenge to avoid it for a day and a round up of use it up ideas . There is also a chapter in my Eco Thrifty Living book all about how to reduce waste in your kitchen.

On another note, you might want to consider having a vegetarian or vegan Christmas instead of the traditional turkey, or at least not have turkey at every Christmas event you go to. Also if you are living in food poverty and food waste is the last thing on your mind, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Read this article from the Citizen’s Advice Bureau on how to get help from food banks – Using a food bank

2. Don’t buy new clothes to wear once.

Christmas parties and Christmas jumper day, can fuel lots of spending on clothes. Often those clothes are worn once or only a handful of times. Save the Children are encouraging people not to buy a new jumper this year, but to find one secondhand because of all the synthetic a.k.a. plastic fibres in Christmas jumpers.

‘Many of the sweaters are expected to end up as single-use items, as two out of five Christmas jumpers are only worn once over the festive period, and one in three adults under 35 buys a new Christmas jumper every year.’

Christmas jumper day goes green to cut down on plastic waste

Where to find secondhand clothes

I went looking round my local charity shops on the weekend and there were lots of party dresses, Christmas jumpers, Santa hats and other things that you will find useful for Christmas. Paying £6.99 for a new (to you) dress in a charity shop will be a lot less expensive than buying something new, is saving something from landfill and if you never want to wear it again, it won’t feel too painful to donate it back to charity once you are done with it.

There are also no spend ways to get hold of new clothes e.g. via Freecycle, Freegle, Facebook groups or friends or family who are having a declutter.

Aside from the plastic there are a lot of problems with fast fashion – for more info take a look at this blog post: Stop buying new clothes now . There is also section in Eco Thrifty Living the book dedicated to sustainable fashion.

3. Rethink what you give

Did you know the 28th of December is now known as Boxing Up Day? It’s the day that we sell our unwanted gifts online. Sites like eBay see a huge spike in listings. Last year it was predicted there would be ‘a staggering 74 million items being listed following Christmas‘. We need to put a stop to unwanted gifts!

Want to know how to do that – read this article: 10 easy ways to stop unwanted gifts . Some of my top tips include asking people what they want before you go shopping and telling people your likes and dislikes before they do! Also I think it is well worth scaling back on giving and receiving gifts in general, especially if there is nothing they or you need.

#CutTheWrap

Another problem with giving is wrapping paper. Most wrapping paper isn’t recyclable. It is often plastic lined or has plastic glitter stuck on it. Also even if it is recyclable, it still involves chopping down trees for a short moment of excitement. Join in with my campaign to put a stop to single use wrapping paper this festive season here: Use wrapping paper alternatives and #CutTheWrap !

For more info check out these 5 days of posts I wrote about how to avoid single use wrapping paper:

• Day 1 was about how to wrap up your gifts in fabric Furoshiki style.
• On Day 2 I provided some clues on how to have a unwrapped festive treasure hunt. There was also a bonus post on how to put an end to the madness of unwanted gifts.
• Day 3 was filled with 6 fun reduced waste Secret Santa ideas
• Day 4 was about making use of your recycling to wrap gifts
• And day 5 was all about how to use old clothes to wrap your gifts!

#CutTheWrap champions

There were lots of other bloggers who got involved and helped to champion the campaign, whose posts are worth checking out too:

• Victoria Sully helped share the campaign on her blogs here: Cut the wrap: save money and stop single use wrapping paper this Christmas and Eco-friendly alternatives to wrapping paper #CutTheWrap
• Fiona Hawkes from Savvy in Somerset wrote about it here Eco Friendly Christmas wrapping ideas
• Rachelle Strauss from Zero Waste Week: Alarming Christmas Waste Statistics and How you Can Have a Zero Waste Christmas
• I did a round up on the UK Money Bloggers site of UKMB’s who pledged to join in with the campaign: Say no to single use wrapping paper
• Savvy Sisters: Wrapping paper alternatives to reduce waste
• Becky Goddard Hill from Family Budgeting- Cutting out things to save the pounds – 5 frugal things
• Ali Clifford from Incredibusy DIY vegan food wraps
• Kizzy from Simply Kizzy – Sunday Faves
• GrowEatGift – Frugal Friday – Wrap It Up

Thanks so much to all the bloggers for their help! Some great tips for an eco-friendly budget Christmas in these posts!

Conclusion

In summary, 3 of my top tips at this time of year are :

• Come up with a plan to avoid wasting food before you go shoppping! That can include meal planning and freezing leftovers.
• Think twice before buying new clothes or a Secret Santa jumper. Make use of what you already have, or what is available second-hand.
• Don’t give gifts for the sake of it that may end up on eBay a few days later. Give gifts that people actually want and if there is nothing they or you need, consider scaling back the gifts. Plus swap disposable plastic lined wrapping paper for more sustainable and reusable options like Furoshiki.

Thanks for visiting the blog and reading this post about how to have an eco-friendly budget Christmas. Hope it was helpful.

If you want to listen back to me on Woman’s Hour, I can be found about half way through the show here: BBC Woman’s Hour and they also put up an article on their blog afterwards including tips from me and others on 9 tips for a greener Christmas.

The post 3 top tips for how to have an eco-friendly budget Christmas! appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

If you don’t have any clothes that are suitable or want something seasonal, take a look in charity shops. I found a pair of kids PJ’s for £2 in a charity shop recently, that I decided would make great gift bags.

Note: if you like this post, you might be interested in my sustainable gift wrapping course.

Upcycled fabric gift bag

Fabric gift bag step 1

Lay out the gifts that you plan to give on top of the pyjama bottoms. You need to make sure they will fit. For larger gifts you might want to make a bigger bag. For smaller ones, you could get more gift bags out of it. It is important to leave a big enough gap at the top and bottom. This is so that there is spare fabric to tie up at the top over the gift. For some sustainable gift ideas check out my post here: Sustainable gifts your friends and family will love

The pyjama bottoms that I found were aged 9-10. As you can see they comfortably fit a couple of bottles of fizz and a couple of books in them. If your gifts are bigger, you will need a bigger pair of trousers or pyjamas!

Step 2

Chop into 4 pieces. I made one cut around half way up each leg to make the bottom pieces. For the top pieces, cut down the middle of the waist band on each side. Next cut down the central seams to separate the top part into two pieces. Don’t cut over two pieces of fabric at once on the top part as it has more potential to go wrong

Step 3 of the gift bag

Turn the leg pieces inside out. For the bottom part of the trouser legs, you only need to sew across one end. I zig zag stitched the ends together to stop them from fraying, then I did a straight line stitch a bit further in. Make sure you tie the thread ends together after sewing so it doesn’t come undone later.

The top parts are a bit more complicated. However, you again want one end sewn up and one end left open. Remember to do the zigzag and the line stitch to make it a good quality seam! You might want to chop off the sticking out bit of fabric where the legs join to make it a straighter bag. It’s up to you how you do it.

With both bags, I sewed the raw edges i.e. the cut edge. I thought the finished edges look better for the opening.

Step 4

Turn your bags the right way out , insert gifts and tie bags with a ribbon!

I think these gift bags made from old clothes look really attractive! It took me a couple of hours to make them and cost me 50p each. It would be a bit of a mission to make these in bulk if you wanted to use them for all your gifts. However you could build up your stash slowly.

In case you are wondering if the clothes would have been better off left as is, we buy and donate far more clothes to charity than we can use in this country. Find out more about this issue here: Is it OK to haggle in charity shop?

Not using conventional wrapping paper might feel a bit strange at first. However, I think in a few years time most of us will be avoiding it – well at least I hope so! My hope comes from remembering the time when it seemed like I was one of a handful of people refusing plastic bags in shops. Now shops aren’t allowed to give them away! Awareness of our impact on the environment is spreading and step by step we are making the changes in the right direction.

Come and join my Zero Waste Christmas Facebook group and share pictures of your resuable gift bags there. Plus don’t forget to check out my sustainable gift wrapping course for more in depth tutorials on eco friendly gift wrapping techniques. Plus for more free ideas for how to wrap up gifts without the waste, check out my post here: Beautiful eco friendly ways to wrap up gifts.

The post How to make an upcycled fabric gift bag appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

Note: if you want some in depth information about wrapping gifts in sustainable ways, check out my sustainable gift wrap course.

DIY recycled wrapping paper

1. Maps

Let’s be honest, these days paper maps are rarely used. Those once essential tools have now become relics of the past. But many of us still have them lingering around the place. Instead of chucking them in the recycling during your next round of decluttering, you could use them to as your own recycled wrapping paper. They make an attractive and unusual wrapping paper!

2. Kids artwork and colouring in pages recycled wrapping are perfect for gifts to family and other kids.

When my kids were younger, I used a lot of the artwork they brought home from nursery to wraps gifts for their friends. It is quite sweet because the kids then feel like they made something for their friend. In turn the friend feels that the wrapping paper was personalised for them!

3. Toilet roll tubes

Your first thought for packaging up gifts isn’t usually a toilet roll tube. However if you have a small gift, they can make a really attractive little upcycled gift wrap/ package. You fold the ends in like I did in this post about a Valentines day gift one year: Toilet rolls and homemade chocolate

4. Paper shopping bags

Obviously it would be far better to refuse the bag and bring your shopping home in a reusable carrier bag. However, even though I can’t remember the last time I came home with a paper bag, I still have them in my house. This because they have been given to me by other people.

If you have some, you could either use the shopping bag as is, as a gift bag or cut it up to use as wrapping paper.

5. Magazines make an attractive recycled wrapping paper option

Magazines can make attractive wrapping paper. If you have something a bit bigger than the sizes of the pages to wrap up use sticky tape to make them into a larger sheet. I don’t get any magazines and depending on how far down your eco-thrifty journey you are, you might not get any either. But if you don’t have any, you could raid other people’s stashes.

6. Glass jars

Glass jars and bottles make a great container for all kinds of gifts. 5 ideas to get you started are:

• Homemade bath salts
• The dry ingredients to make a cake or cookies. Layer up the ingredients, so that it looks pretty. Remember to include the recipe too!
• Homemade goodies like biscuits, brownies or truffles
• Vanilla extract – make your own by adding vanilla bean pods to vodka. If it isn’t going to be ready in time, you could still give the gift with instructions to wait a while to use it!
• Soap – could be hand soap or shampoo bars!

7. Brown paper is an easy recycled wrapping paper

Brown paper can often be found lurking in packages delivered from online purchases and is an easy quick win recycled wrapping paper. Tie it up with ribbon or string. From far too much browsing on Pinterest recently the latest trend seems to be to tuck a sprig of seasonal leaves behind the bow. It does look really nice and is easy to do if you have some greenery nearby.

Although it is tempting don’t add decorations like paint, stickers and glitter as then the paper won’t be recyclable any more. This is because these things usually contain plastic.

8. Newspapers

One year I wrapped all my kids gifts in newspapers. We used to get a free newspaper through the door, but we don’t get it anymore and I don’t buy any. So we don’t have usually have any newspapers to wrap anything in. If you do have some though, newspaper sheets make a good sized upcycled gift wrap. Again make it more attractive by adding tying a ribbon or piece of string around it. Make sure to save and reuse the ribbon and string afterwards

9. Cardboard boxes

We do a fair amount of shopping online these days and most things come delivered in a cardboard box. Sometimes we order a gift to get sent straight to the recipient. Receiving and opening the cardboard box is the surprise. Again, if we get a gift delivered to our house in a cardboard box, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to unbox it and then wrap it up!

Most delivery boxes don’t come with gifts in them though and most gifts don’t come in delivered cardboard boxes. If you can match a gift and a spare box size wise, then wrapping it up with a ribbon will make it look perfectly gift like!

10. Padded envelopes

A used envelope will have things like an address and a stamp on it, but cover these up with stickers and it will make a great gift wrap for a small gift like a book. I did say not to add stickers to the brown paper. However if the envelope already has labels and stamps on it, it is unlikely to be recyclable anyway.

For more ways to wrap up gifts without the waste, check out my post here: Beautiful eco friendly ways to wrap up gifts.

The post Saved from the recycling – beautiful ways to wrap gifts appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

If you feel the same way, here are some suggestions for alternatives to secret santa, which are just as fun, won’t cost much and are better for the environment!

1. All pay to do an experience together instead!

Instead of Secret Santa, do an activity together. In these Covid times, it might not be practical to do something in person, but perhaps you could do something fun together online. For example an online quiz, bake along, event or course. My sustainable gift wrap course is only £15 and could be a festive and fun thing to do together .

When it is practical, perhaps you could go bowling. Or visit somewhere like an Upside Down House – it is a Secret Santa priced £5 and under (depending on the day and where it is) to get in, is a bit of a laugh and would make for some fun photos!

2. Do a charity collection for a food bank

Swap buying mindless tat for spending £5 each on food, household items and treats that you can take to your local food bank. Check what types of things the food bank needs and can accept before you buy. No wrapping required for this one! Read more about food banks and what to give them in this post by the UK Money Bloggers about their reverse advent calendar project. You could combine doing a collection/ reverse advent with one of the other ideas on this list too.

3. Ungifted Secret Santa

Have you heard of Ungifted Secret Santa? It is a website which arranges an alternative Secret Santa experience! It is free to use and most of the gift ideas won’t cost you a penny.

You put all the names and email addresses of the people taking part into the site. Next set a date for the Secret Santa giving event. Then each of you get an email with the name of the person you are giving the gift to. You can choose from a range of gift options. The gifts are things like giving them a cake, taking the office dog for a walk and putting post it complement notes on their computer!

It is a bit of a laugh and aside from the cake nothing else is a physical gift so nothing needs wrapping.

4. Do an unwanted gift swap

If you can wait until after the Christmas holidays (and you are all able to get together), you could bring in the gifts that didn’t want and do a swap. Add an element of fun, by making a lucky dip out of an old box and some shredded recycling!

So as you can see, there are some great eco-friendly alternatives to Secret Santa to try! Which one is your favourite?

Looking for more ideas for eco-friendly gifts for Christmas? Check out my list of sustainable gifts, your friends and family will love

The post Fed up of Secret Santa? Want alternative ideas that are just as fun and better for the environment? appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

The easy peasy gift treasure hunt

You can make it simple and do it like an Easter egg hunt. You don’t need any clues for this, you just hide gifts around a room or a house and then people search for them.

It would make sense to do this one person at a time, so that only their gifts are available to find!

To make it easier to identify as a gift, wrap some reusable ribbon or string around them. I have collected a big stash of ribbons that I have collected over the years. I use an old toiletry bag to store them!

Simple clues

Leave a trail of treasure hunt clues around your house and entertain the adults and kids in your family! It can be hard to break with traditions especially if you are used to having a load of gifts under a tree, but you will probably be more upset about it than the kids. You could even hang the first clue from your Christmas tree and start a new family tradition!

10 clues to use in your home:

1. Table – What has four legs but can’t go for a hike? Look under it to find something you’ll like
2. Book on a bookshelf – My spine is the wrong way, all the others are facing out. I have a lot to say, but I can’t shout it out! (place a book on the bookshelf the wrong way round i.e. spine to the wall).
3. Bed – Go to the place, where you like to close your eyes, but this time keep them open to find a surprise!
4. Wardrobe – Hanging around in here is a bit boring because you usually only visit in the morning!
5. Games cupboard – Roll the dice or shuffle the pack. Make your move and look towards the back!
6. Fridge / freezer – Want to find something cool? You know where to search, you are no fool!
7. Bath – Quack Quack and you’re on the right track
8. Under the sofa cushions – Use your hands to rescue me from lost sock and loose change land!
9. Airing cupboard – Clothes go here to get some air, come and find me in their lair!
10. Shoe storage area – The things stored here travel a lot and there are different types depending on whether it is cold or hot!

For more ideas for festive clues take a look here: 56 Christmas scavenger hunt clues

How to avoid printing out clues on paper

If you don’t want wasted pieces of paper containing clues, there are the following options:

• Each clue leads to a gift, so you just tell them the next clue when they find the gift.
• If you want to save the gift or gifts till the end of the hunt, put something as a marker in each place e.g. a teddy, a book or even a pair of socks! Obviously you would need to use a book for the bookshelf clue!

Alternatively print or write out the clues and hide them around the house!

For more ideas for how to wrap up gifts without waste check out my blog post here: Eco friendly wrapping paper alternatives

The post How to swap wrapping gifts for a festive treasure hunt! appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

So many of us do not want them. Add to that the effort people go through to find the gifts, the money it costs them and the negative environmental impact of it and it seems crazy to keep doing this every year!

Let’s make things easier for everyone and put an end to this madness! Here are my 10 ways to put a stop to unwanted gifts:

1. Gift lists can put the brakes on unwanted gifts!

Agree to shop from gift lists in your family/ amongst your friends. You would have to all agree to this together as you can’t tell people they have to buy you something from a list!

2. Ask before you shop

Ask people what they want before you buy them a gift and only buy stuff they actually want. For an element of surprise in the gift, ask them for a few ideas and just pick one of them!

3. Give money to stop unwanted gifts

Give money, it is better than gift cards. This is because if you buy a physical gift card that is a waste of plastic and/ or paper. Secondly a large proportion of gift cards get forgotten about and never get used.

4. Do a Secret Santa

Instead of giving gifts to all the adults in your family, do a Secret Santa. Make sure to still check the gifts will be wanted. It doesn’t even have to be secret. It could just be that each member of your family gets one gift from the rest of you. That way there are a lot less gifts being given between family members meaning less stress. Plus you can all club together and spend a bit more on one big gift, rather than lots of smaller gifts.

5. Only give to the kids in the family

Agree to stop doing gifts between adult friends and extended family and just give to the kids in your family. This makes me think of unilateral disarmament. All put down your weapons a.k.a. gift shopping activities together. Remember to ask what to get the kids before you shop!

It may be tricky to do straight away, as some people might be a bit resistant to it. We phased out gifts to extended family by starting off with a Secret Santa first and then stopping it altogether.

6. Stop unwanted gifts by telling people what you do and don’t like!

We all know those people who are impossible to buy for. You have no idea what they are into and no clue what to get them for a gift. If you want gifts, that you will like, don’t be one of those people!

When someone asks you what you want, give them some ideas. If there are certain things you really don’t like let people know!

7. Break the cycle

This is a tip for people who want to keep giving and receiving gifts, but repeatedly get the same unwanted gift (or gift type) year after year. For example, how can you politely tell someone that you don’t like fruit cake any more, when they have been giving you one every year for 15 years?

In this situation you could say something like this (before they bake the cake):

I wanted to let you know before you bake your annual fruit cake that I’m really sorry but although it is really lovely, as I’ve got older, I’ve gone off fruit cake a bit. Your lemon drizzle cake is delicious though (/ insert a type of cake / alternative you do like).

It’s OK to let someone know your tastes have changed and to give them some hints about the kinds of things you do like. This can apply to things like beauty and bath products and food and drink. It can also apply to a particular hobby that you are no longer into and your kids changing tastes as well (if the gift is for your child).

8. Stop giving gifts and ask for nothing in return

This doesn’t have to mean never giving or receiving gifts. Just scale things back so that you exchange gifts with a smaller circle of people e.g. your immediate family.

I find that when you tell people you don’t want gifts, there will still be people who will give you gifts anyway. This could be for a variety of reasons, maybe they don’t believe you or they are used to showing they care by giving gifts and can’t imagine not giving them.

How to get people to stop giving you gifts:

The two most effective ways I found to get people to stop giving me gifts were to:

• stop giving people gifts myself because then people don’t feel obligated to give you anything and
• give people their gifts back, if they ignored me and bought something anyway.

Giving someone their gift back is filled with problems and could easily cause a lot of offence. It’s probably best not to do this. But if you are going to, avoid try to avoid causing offence by being careful about the way you say it. Things you could say to smooth things over could go something along these lines:

Thank you so much for the thought, I really appreciate it, but we already have one of those and there isn’t anything else we need, so I would rather you took it back and got your money back

You could substitute the ‘we already have one’ part with we used to have one of these, but found we didn’t use it much or I’m so sorry but we really don’t have anywhere to put that and so on.

9. Don’t be a repeat offender – giving the same unwanted gift year after year

If you are guilty of always giving the same gift every year, check in with people and make sure they still like and want it! I usually give photo calendars of the kids to the grandparents every year, because they don’t really need anything and they love having photos of the kids. It makes my life a lot easier not having to think up something new each year!

However, they might be fed up with the calendar size or it might be that they would rather have a photo book than a calendar and are too polite to say. It is a great idea to check that people still want that gift you keep giving them to save them the stress of trying to work out ways to tell you that they don’t want it any more!

10. Share articles like this one with your friends and family

If you feel the suggestions above are a step too far, another approach is to share articles about the problems of unwanted gifts. You can do that on social media, email or even just in conversation with people. That way you are opening up the issue for discussion rather than imposing anything on them.

Find out how your friends and family feel about gift giving. Some will love give giving. However you might be surprised to find that some would be really happy to stop doing it!

I have a whole section in my Eco Thrifty Living book about gift giving, in which I raise some of the issues and problems with it. Sharing my book with them could be another way to ease into the subject!

So there you have it – 10 ways to put a stop to unwanted gifts!

Take things further and make sure the presents you do give are sustainable gifts!

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In this article I walk you through how to wrap up a book using the Furoshiki method. I think it looks great and really stylish.

How to wrap up a book in fabric -Furoshiki style!

In the picture at the top of the article I have wrapped up my Eco Thrifty Living book in a silk scarf in a few easy steps. I got the silk scarf with a bunch more, when my mum was having a declutter. She was going to give them to charity, but I found a new use for them! If you don’t have your own fabrics to use to wrap up gifts, you will be able to find some inexpensively in a charity shop!

Step 1: Lay out your fabric and put the book on top at an angle

Step 2: Bring two diagonally opposite corners towards each other and tie them together in a double knot

Step 3 – Repeat with the remaining two corners

Doesn’t it look great! When you give someone a gift like this, you can ask for the gift wrap back. I find that most people hand it straight back to me. But you could also give it as part of the present if you want to.

Now that you have learned how to wrap up a gift Furoshiki style, are you after ideas for eco-friendly gifts? If so, you can get some inspiration in my list of sustainable gifts your friends and family will love.

If you want some more ideas for sustainable ways to wrap gifts, check out my article on the subject here: Beautiful eco friendly ways to wrap up gifts. Plus check out my course that I am currently developing on the subject. All the details can be found here: Sustainable gift wrapping course.

The post Furoshiki is a beautiful and stylish way to wrap up gifts! appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.