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Eco-Friendly Family
wifeofadam
member
s/o EF Holidays
wifeofadam
member
I was wondering if everyone could share some of the ways they try to make their holiday celebrations eco-friendly. Every year I am trying to get better about it and am hoping to learn some new things in this thread.
The biggest thing I started doing last year was fabric bags for wrapping. I used old Christmas PJ pants, tablecloths, and other fabrics from Goodwill for most of the bags (but did also buy some fleece). I liked using fabrics that didn't require hemming.
We used these for all of our family gifts and recycled old holiday bags for the gatherings we were going to.
We also no longer put Christmas lights on the outside of our house to save energy and rarely light up the tree inside.
We are doing mostly handmade or local gifts this year too.
Anyone have any other ways they are trying to be eco-friendly this holiday season?
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Re: s/o EF Holidays
I love your fabric idea...totally going to start transitioning into this (I hate the gift wrap paper, and only have a couple rolls that someone was going to throw away anyways). Usually we reuse bags in our family...and all my boxes and tissue wrap are reused.
I'm planning to get DD used gifts in future while she's young...I think it's kind of neat to just get a doll or stuffed animal, without all the store wrapping on it...like it's come from Santa's workshop
Otherwise, we got LED xmas lights when we bought our house...and compost our tree (when we have one...since we often travel home for the holidays).
We also use fabric bags. I buy a lot of Christmas fabric (mostly cotton) around/after Christmas and make bags for that. We've even convinced family to use cotton bags for gifts too. Last year, my MIL and SIL both made bags and used them for as many gifts as they could.
We limit the use of disposable cookware/dishes when we can. This is the first year we're hosting. And we can't avoid paper plates for Thanksgiving, but I'm using as many real serving pieces as I can... and we'll use real flatware not plastic. Hopefully real cups/glasses too. At the IL's we ALWAYS used paper and plastic and it drove me crazy... but I also don't want dishes and none of their husbands would help (just mine), so I understand where they're coming from. My step mom is on the other end of the scale and ONLY uses her (used loosely here, as she has a set of her own, my mom's and her mom's) china and real silver for holidays. She even irons the real linen table cloths. BUT.... her downfall is that she washes EVERYTHING by hand (wasting water and time) and she also only serves food from a real serving dish instead of the dish it was cooked it... which dirties up tons more dishes.
She also dislikes my fabric bags and puts things in boxes when they aren't necessary. And drinks a lot of wine...
We don't get a tree. We live in a condo now but previously were living in a tiny apartment where a tree would never fit. I didn't really miss the tree at all. Our families both have trees up and we always travel to visit, so we got to see a tree anyway.
I don't put up lights, and I don't buy decorations. I want to make any decorations I decide on myself this year.
We don't buy a lot of gifts for each other. DH and I usually get each other one gift a piece (besides stocking stuffers) and we buy Liliana a handful of gifts that primarily come from the local toy store. I try not to buy crap made in China, Taiwan, etc. but that is getting increasingly difficult the older she gets.
When I bake, I use fair trade and organic ingredients (for the most part - there are a few seasonal items I buy like Andes creme de menthe chips and Reese's PB cups, although I do use Newman's Own organic PB cups when I make small batches of baked goods requiring such things).
I save gift bags from holidays and birthdays and random gifts throughout the year and try to reuse those for gifts.
We do get a tree because that is my favorite part of Christmas but we do use LED lights on it. For meals we don't use disposables and my parents buy a free range organic turkey and we try to buy organic produce.
I don't do cloth wrapping because I don't have a place to store it from year to year and I have no other way of reusing it. What I do instead is use butcher paper that can be reused as placemats, newspaper that Starbucks was going to recycle [and I then use again for birdcage lining] and scrapbook paper scraps for little gifts. I also try to look for gifts that are already packaged in decorative boxes that I know my family will save to use again in the future and won't need to wrap.
For stocking stuffers we do special food instead of little gifts. Chocolate oranges, fancy dried fruit and nuts, coffee, hot chocolate, marzipan.
Edit: I would add that my father and I are notorious gift bag hoarders. We have bags we have received with gifts that we have passed back and forth for 10 years. He also will not throw away any bow that is not completely smashed and ANY box will be reused until he dies. He doesn't do this to be EF though. He's just frugal
I love your bags! How are they closed at the top? This makes me want to go buy cheapie tablecloths at Goodwill!
We use LED lights. I cut down a tree from a local family tree farm. We try and do local produce for our xmas meals. My daughter gets used toys, and not a ton of presents. We try to minimize our gift giving/buying to immediate family only or people who will be at your house while presents are getting opened. We let it be known that used or thrifted or handmedowns are perfectly great!
I used long scraps from the fleece to make ties. I tied them in a loose bow so my kids would be able to open them easily.