For me, the Christmas Holidays are when I slow down, watch lots of Christmas movies, eat popcorn, cook very little and try to survive on leftovers for as long as I can.
However, beyond its magic, Christmas is also one of the most unsustainable times of the year. To an already over-polluted planet, we bring more of, just to name a few:
- Gifts,
- Wrapping paper,
- Christmas cards,
- Packaging used to ship gifts,
- The unwanted gifts that end up in the landfill (Please ask your family and friends what they would like before you buy anything).
- Uneaten food. It’s always better to buy less than to throw out uneaten food. You can also freeze the food you think you might not be able to eat before it goes bad, and unfreeze it when needed.
- Christmas trees, lights, and decorations.
Since 2021 was all about making sustainable choices in my life and my family’s, we decided that Christmas should be sustainable, too.
I started our Sustainable Christmas Season by recycling our Christmas tree, which I saved from last year. The tree wasn’t pristine, but we deemed it good enough. I had to cut off some of the dead branches, but after decorating the tree with Christmas lights and ornaments, it looked genuinely charming.
Not throwing out a perfectly good tree saved us money, but it also saved us time looking for a new one, the plastic containers trees come in, the carbon footprint of transporting the tree, and, of course, we cut down on demand.
When it comes to wrapping paper, I’m using a recyclable one that I got on sale last year. Since we also celebrate Santa Claus Day on the 6th of December, I usually recycle that paper by wrapping other Christmas gifts. Well, at least the bits the kids didn’t manage to destroy (think Monica Geller, but without ironing the paper, I’m not mental 😉).
This year’s gifts are minimalistic, plastic-free, and sustainable long-term swaps. For instance, my son asked for a new phone case because his sister broke his old one. I looked for the case on the Pela website, but because his phone isn’t very popular, no case was available. So, instead of jumping to Amazon, I jumped to Etsy and started looking for phone stands he could use as a long-term solution, even after he changed his phone. I found a nice alternative, 3D printed, made in the UK (good news for shipping reasons), and independently made from recycled plastic. It was perfect, and I think he likes it too (he got it from Santa on the 6th of December).
One of the gifts I got for my daughter came from a charity shop, and when I saw that bright green jumper, I knew it belonged to her.
The charity shops I visited recently had plenty of lovely stock: shoes, clothing, and jewellery, all excellent for Christmas gifts. One of the books my daughter will get is second-hand; she loves books, and paying £8 each time adds up. She still has many books from when her brother was a baby, but now and then, we buy her a lovely new story.
On December 6th, Santa also brought her a wooden tea set. I was going to buy the tea set online, but when the shop didn’t have what I was looking for, I ended up getting the tea set instead. The set is wooden, and I didn’t use shipping to get it. However, I forgot to check where it was made, and it was made in China, which isn’t ideal (Note to self: always remember to check the country of origin).
I got gifts for my friends in Poland over the summer, which are artisan-made things. However, if I hadn’t bought anything interesting for them in Poland, I would definitely have checked out the charity shops before buying anything new.
When it comes to food this Christmas, we are still clinging to the hope that we will travel to Spain and have an “easy” Christmas. If we cannot travel, because, you know, “the bugger” isn’t going away any time soon, as every year we won’t go over the board shopping. I’ll bake cakes and make something vegan. We might have some traditional Polish Christmassy foods, but those will be in small quantities.
Surprisingly, or maybe not, it takes more time to plan for minimalistic Christmas cooking, but since we have been practising this approach for a few years now, it’s no longer a big struggle. Planning is essential before anything becomes a habit.
When it comes to gifts, it takes more time to find ones that are sustainable and useful, so the people you give them to will love them. That’s why I usually start planning in the summer (I’m obsessed with planning and lists 😉).
Re-gifting is also an excellent way to reduce waste and clutter, and it makes strong financial sense.
If you decide to make gifts yourself, ensure the people you are giving them to will appreciate your effort; not everyone values handmade gifts. I love handmade, one-of-a-kind things, such as cakes or cookies, as gifts. But I have also experienced disappointment in people’s eyes when they saw my handmade scarves or hats. It takes a lot of time to make those; time is the only commodity we cannot get more of. Not buying gifts at all is also a perfectly valid option.
A sustainable, eco-minimalistic Christmas is possible, doable, and, in fact, lots of fun if you stretch yourself far enough to see what you can thrift, repurpose, or make.
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