With the coming of the Christmas shopping frenzy, I’ve decided to talk a little about different ways that you can make your holidays greener. And with that I mean eco-friendly.
Living in Finland the past few years I’ve learnt to appreciate more the nice details of not having a completely store-bought Christmas. While Finns do shop for presents, they have also always left room for more thoughtful presents in their stockings. Things that require more personal effort and less wallet.
A few years back Anneli, my mother-in-law made it a point of growing extra spices (parsley, basil, oregano, thyme, and dill) on her vegetable garden. In the fall, she harvested them, and set them to dry. She’d been saving old spice jars and removing the labels for a while, and she packaged the various herbs in jars, and then made handwritten labels. She gave all the extended family relatives spice collections from her garden.
Living in Finland the past few years I’ve learnt to appreciate more the nice details of not having a completely store-bought Christmas. While Finns do shop for presents, they have also always left room for more thoughtful presents in their stockings. Things that require more personal effort and less wallet.
A few years back Anneli, my mother-in-law made it a point of growing extra spices (parsley, basil, oregano, thyme, and dill) on her vegetable garden. In the fall, she harvested them, and set them to dry. She’d been saving old spice jars and removing the labels for a while, and she packaged the various herbs in jars, and then made handwritten labels. She gave all the extended family relatives spice collections from her garden.
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| Homemade candies |
I make something we jokingly call Christmas Crack, a chocolate almond toffee family recipe that everyone loves. I give some as part of our presents to others.
These are just my family’s gifts, and I am not saying you should go all out in making everything at home: rather, consider making things, or putting presents together that have some thought behind them.
An insightful gift idea is a nicely colored flowerpot, some soil, and a bag of seeds for flowers or herbs. The person receiving it will be sure to remember you in the spring!
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| Muffin mix in a jar makes a nifty gift for parents |
A great idea if you know someone with kids is that you can make your own muffin mix, or brownie mix for them to bake. The idea is that you mix all the dry ingredients and put them in a nice jar (or, if you have time, you can layer them, packing each layer down so they stay neat), then write a nice label with the name of the recipe, like “Chocolate Brownie Mix” as well as the missing –wet- ingredients and the instructions for making them. Here’s my own Brownie Mix.
For the grownup crowd, you can also make your own egg nog, mulled wine, or Irish Cream, and bottle them in nice bottles to give away. No, I will not be posting my own recipes for those on here. I can tell you from experience, though, that Martha Stewart’s mulled white wine recipe is veeeeeery good. And don’t fret that it comes from Martha Stewart, for once it’s something easy to make. Look it up!
If you are not the person for these personally crafted ideas, don’t worry. There are still many ways that you can shop green.
Reusable gifts: these are gifts that do not waste away over time, or that save the person from buying something disposable. For example… washable sandwich bags and lunchboxes. Thermal coffee mugs (there are drivers that still don’t have them!). A gadget that I really like is something called BNTOs, these pieces of –recycled- plastic that fit onto the mouths of standard jar sizes. They turn a normal jar into a 2-compartment reusable container that separates the dry contents from the wet ones, so that they may be used later. It’s hard to picture, so here’s a video.
Recycled materials gifts: they abound. Check an online shop like Amazon for things like recycled leather, recycled tire rubber wallets (there’s a Fairtrade one that looks great), recycled circuit boards for the techie in you. I have a business card holder made from that, I love it. Recycled glass, recycled wood, just type “recycled” and let your imagination run wild.
About ecological wrapping paper and wrapping ideas: you would think that wrapping paper is a relatively harmless thing; after all, we can just put it in the recycling bin afterwards… no. Wrapping paper is coated with specific chemicals both for color and that glossy finish, which render it not-recyclable. That is why it is a good idea to either recycle gift paper (as in, save the paper from unwrapping presents), or to make your own.
Here’s a way to make personalized wrapping paper that is easy and original: buy a roll of white paper and some potatoes and make your own potato-stamped paper. I remember learning how to do this in school, but here’s a small lesson with pictures. All it takes is potatoes, a knife, sponges (optional) and paint. You can’t possible go wrong. You can carve them in typical holiday shapes: bells, Christmas trees, stars, sleighs, and then dip them in red, green or other colors, and print them onto the paper. If you have kids, I am sure they’d be more than happy to help with all this!
What about ribbon, which is pure plastic? I saw once a very nifty idea to replace it. Wrap your gift in plain paper, and then write on it with a clear glue stick. Draw a cross like a ribbon would make when wrapped on the present, or draw shapes like a star, a bell, or write the person’s name (you can make smaller lines using a small brush dipped in plain white glue. Pour glitter on the glue design, and let it dry.
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| Brown paper, lace, twine and a candy cane |
You may also replace plastic ribbon with colored twine or cloth ribbon, adding nice buttons, or a candy cane, to decorate the knot.Again, if you aren’t into crafting your own wrapping, there are greener alternatives:
Gift bags: these have become very popular because as do away with wrapping altogether; use some tissue paper, stuff the present, cover with more tissue, and done! Well, both the bag and the tissue are reusable. They’re a greener option than paper and ribbon. And if you get some gift bags and tissue with your presents this year, remember to save them to reuse!
Cloth: You can go to a cloth store and find remnant cloths, pieces left of rolls that they sell very cheap. Or you can buy a specific larger piece of cloth to wrap a large present so that the person receiving it can reuse it.
Recycled paper gift wrap: yes, it exists. Look for it!
Please use the Comments section below to provide any other green gift ideas that you can think of. After all, it is the season of giving and sharing.
Happy holidays, everyone, and see you again next year!
Cloth: You can go to a cloth store and find remnant cloths, pieces left of rolls that they sell very cheap. Or you can buy a specific larger piece of cloth to wrap a large present so that the person receiving it can reuse it.
Recycled paper gift wrap: yes, it exists. Look for it!
Please use the Comments section below to provide any other green gift ideas that you can think of. After all, it is the season of giving and sharing.
Happy holidays, everyone, and see you again next year!
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