There’s a high probability that you’ve heard the classic song, “Dreaming of a white Christmas,” which refers to the beautiful snowfall that creates that much anticipated holiday atmosphere.
However, planning for a green Christmas is all about being environmentally active and aware while saving money, especially during times of economic uncertainty.
And of course, if the weather brings a little bit of white covering too, then that makes a green Christmas perfect!
Every effort made to reduce our carbon footprint helps to slow down global warming.
If you’d like to contribute and join the millions of other Eco-conscious folks by adopting more Eco-friendly habits, then continue reading.
You’re going to discover five tips on how to make Christmas green so that you can do your part to help save our environment.
Let’s run through them now…
1)) Gift Wrap with Recyclable Paper
Exchanging gifts is a common practice during Christmas, and this is an excellent place to start developing your green Christmas habits.
Most of the gift wrapping paper sold in stores is beautiful, but usually not recyclable.
The mass majority of it is immediately thrown away to end up in landfills.
This makes gift wrapping with store-bought paper expensive and very unfriendly to the planet, not what we want for a green Christmas.
As beautiful as the gift wrap paper is, the recipients only care about what’s underneath.
A much better alternative, and one that close relatives will appreciate, is to use your children's artwork, especially if created with recyclable materials to wrap gifts.
You could also use your children's non-valuable comic books, or the comic sections of newspapers as a bright and colorful alternative, thereby recycling old paper.
You can explain to the recipient of the gift in a positive way why you are doing this and perhaps make them feel guilty for not having a green Christmas as well, just kidding!
It has been calculated by the Sierra Club, America's oldest and largest environmental organization, that if every family in the country gift-wrapped just three gifts by recycling existing paper they already have, the paper saved would be enough to cover 45,000 football fields.
Now, that's a green Christmas and a whole lot of trees saved too!
You see, it’s the collective efforts made by all of us that can help save our planet.
2)) Make Your Own wreath
If you plan to hang a wreath on your front door, then why not consider making one yourself?
It's easy and very environmentally friendly, and you'll save money too by being crafty.
Go into the forest, or even a nearby park, and find evergreen branches and dried twigs.
These can be wrapped in a circular fashion with cranberries strung together to add a splash of bright color.
You'll surprise yourself with how good you are, it won't cost you anything, but a little time and the materials are all fully biodegradable.
In fact, why not watch a few YouTube videos of others that walk step-by-step through how to make green wreaths?
3)) Create Greeting Cards with Children's Artwork
There are many more things you can do to make this a green Christmas. Consider making your own greeting cards, for example.
You could use your children's artwork again, just like in the gift wrapping example from earlier, because it's perfect for this and grandparents will love it.
You know how much the grandparents adore your children and will be just as excited to receive a handmade greeting card as they would a store-bought one.
As a matter of fact, they’ll view the handmade card as being more sentimental, because it’ll have been made with your children’s own efforts and love.
4)) Use LED Tree Lights
You can use the more efficient LED lights on your tree (which should be a real one that can be planted out later) and you will save 90% on your green Christmas electricity bill.
Also, LED lights can last anywhere from 6 to 23 years because they use more durable light-emitting diodes rather than old-school fluorescent incandescent lights, which use a filament to generate light.
Do you think you’d save some money by not having to replace your Christmas lights for at least 6 to 23 years?
You bet you will!
5)) Craft Green Christmas Gifts
You shouldn't be stuck thinking up ideas for green Christmas gifts. There are so many different ways to make excellent and interesting gifts and ornaments using existing materials or things that are easy and inexpensive to obtain.
Ideas for green Christmas gifts are usually only limited by your imagination, so start imagining, because like the song says, “This Is The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!”
Gift Baskets
There’s no denying the fact that gift baskets are popular.
The good news is that they’re easy to make, and one of the best green Christmas gifts you can give.
The basket can be recycled from a cardboard box, cut to size and shape as desired, and wrapped in something original.
The artwork that your children produce in school or at home is ideal for wrapping gift baskets.
If you can't find enough of your children’s old artwork, then have them make a few new pieces.
Any left-over artwork can be shredded and laid in the bottom of the basket to provide a suitable crinkly base for the gifts.
The gifts that fill the gift baskets can be anything. However, some of the better ideas for green Christmas gifts are things like homemade jams, homemade cookies, and homemade maple candy, which can be cut into Christmas shapes.
Other ideas for green Christmas gifts for your gift baskets can be produced by your children.
Aluminum drinks can be painted, or covered in an old photo or some kind of artwork that makes a great pen holder.
A sturdy shoebox, if suitably decorated, can become an attractive treasure box. Your children will love creating these ideas for green Christmas gifts.
Clay Ornaments
Clay ornaments are not only easy to craft and Eco-friendly but make for the perfect green Christmas gift.
You can make the clay dough with flour, salt, and water in ratios of two parts flour one part salt, and one part water.
Mix well together and knead for at least 10 minutes, then roll out and cut to shape. You can use existing cookie cutters, or get more imaginative for better results.
You may wish to poke a hole in each ornament before baking them to make it easy for hanging.
Make the hole larger than you need as it will shrink during baking. Then bake the ornaments in an oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for around an hour and a half.
These excellent ideas for green Christmas gifts can be decorated in hundreds of different exciting ways and will look really great too.
Ideas for green Christmas gifts are all around you. They will save you money and help to save the environment.
In that way, you will know that you are doing your part for the planet.
Christmas is a Christian celebration, but people of other religions also know the importance of going green and saving valuable resources and money.
Conclusion
I just shared five tips on how to have a green Christmas, which gives you the opportunity to help slow down the devastating effects of global warming.
We all have a responsibility to take care of our planet because it’s the only place we have to call home.
I wrote this article to encourage you to start thinking about your own creative ways how to go green, not only for Christmas but for every day of the week.
Continue to seek out other Eco-friendly ideas that you can begin implementing at your own pace.
Also, there’s nothing wrong with purchasing traditional gifts from retailers such as Amazon, because not everyone will appreciate handmade items.
Remember, the fate of our planet rest on all of our shoulders.
Have fun going green for Christmas!
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