Pressies!
Think quality:
Around half of UK adults say they have received gifts they don’t want at Christmas. When buying gifts think less but better, quality not quantity, take time to choose an item they’d really like and which will last a long time.
Gift a wonderful experience and a forever memory:
Giving an experience (rather than a ‘thing’) will reduce demand for physical resources. You could buy tickets to shows, concerts or events. Gift a home-made coupon book! Make a restaurant reservation or promise a home cooked meal. Plan a day out to a wild place. It also means Christmas comes twice for the receiver, when they get to go on the experience!
Gift sustainable:
Buying second-hand items saves on resources needed to make new products. Vintage clothes and home furnishings, and refurbished technology can make great sustainable gifts. Avoid single-use plastic items that can’t be recycled and look for things like Fairtrade or Organic-certified food and clothing.
It’s a wrap!
In the UK, 108 million rolls of wrapping paper are thrown away each Christmas, which is equivalent to 227,000 miles of paper. Some of this can be recycled but any metallised / foil wrapping cannot.
This Christmas why not think creatively when wrapping your gifts, here are some suggestions:
– wrap gifts in recycled brown paper and add natural decorations like pine cones, ivy and fir or rosemary sprigs tied on with recycled garden twine for a natural look
– wrap in pages from old road maps, newspapers or magazines and tie with colourful waste fabric strips for a unique and personal gift wrap.
– channel the Japanese art of Furoshiki by wrapping your gifts in pieces of colourful fabric
– if you’re handy with a needle, sew simple bags using scrap fabric with ribbons or wool drawstrings.
- Decorate! Get creative: Making your own decorations from sustainable materials (old wrapping paper into paper chains for example) not only saves you money and protects the planet but you can gain satisfaction and praise for your awesome artwork. Look online for ideas or try these:
Fruity slices:
Use up any oranges, lemons or apples that have been forgotten in the fruit bowl and dried up a little. Heat oven to 140C/120C fan/gas 1 and line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment. Slice the oranges, lemons and apples very thinly, using a mandolin for the apples, if you have one. Arrange the slices on the trays, then bake for 45 mins-1 hr, turning halfway through cooking, until completely dried out. Leave to cool. Once cool, stud the oranges with cloves. Thread some ribbon, twine or string through the centres of a fruit slice, then tie a knot to secure, follow with a slice of another fruit, then another knot, also tying a cinnamon stick to a few of the decorations.
- Treemendous! If buying a plastic Christmas tree, make sure that you’re going to reuse it for at least 10 years. Otherwise, it would have been better to buy a living tree from a sustainable forest. Be clear on how to dispose of your tree once the season is over. If it is potted, think about replanting it. Or get it recycled and turned into wood chips. Purchasing a potted tree is a good solution as you can reuse it each year! Relax! Reconnect to nature: The festive season is all about spending time with friends and family. Try making one of your festive activities a walk around the great outdoors, your local park or nature reserve. Winter is a great time to spot all sorts of over-wintering birds. Download the Seek app, which lets you identify and discover more about local species. It also helps scientists to track global biodiversity!
CASaV Leaflets
This page is also available as one of a series of CASaV Leaflets, so you can download a printable pdf here – double sided tri-fold leaflet or an editable version which you can make your own and use for your group – OpenOffice document.
Climate Action Stokesley and Villages 