Celebrating the festive season doesn’t have to be a wasteful, expensive affair. In fact, with a little bit of forethought, Christmas can be a great time to create new, eco-friendly traditions!
Below, we’ve put together five ways to have a greener Christmas. Each tip focuses on a major source of waste during the festive season — whether it’s wrapping paper, decorations, food, or even money — these swaps are guaranteed to be better for the planet, and better for your pocket!
Get Creative With Experience-Based, Handmade & Homegrown Gifts
Let’s start with the best aspect of Christmas — gifts! This Christmas, we’re encouraging you to give consciously, because not all gifts have to be material items.
Why not give your loved ones an experience that they’ll never forget? It could be tickets to a musical, a symphony orchestra performance, a ballet, a concert, or an art exhibition. What about a class? It could be pottery, dance, a terrarium-making class, or a cocktail class — there’s tonnes of options. If they love eco goodies, then they’ll appreciate a Flora & Fauna Gift Card!
Handmade gifts always pull on the heartstrings. Love cooking? Jams, chutneys, spice blends, hot sauce, gingerbread cookies — the possibilities are endless! Love gardening? Propagate your houseplant in a beautiful pot, or dry some bunches of herbs and wrap them in twine.
Purchasing Gifts? Choose Reusable, Sustainable & Ethical Gifts
Here at Flora & Fauna, we have everyday eco products that are surprisingly better! Our Australian-made, vegan, cruelty-free and ethically sourced products are delivered in plastic-free packaging.
Looking to buy an eco gift for your loved one? Why not take a look at our Christmas Gift Sets, Gifts For Her, Gifts For Him, Gifts For Kids, and Secret Santa Gifts — not to mention our growing range of Vegan Chocolate! Take a look at our ultimate Christmas Gift Guide for more inspiration.
We’ve also received a tonne of new products just in time for Christmas! Our New Arrivals category is packed with beautiful makeup sets, candles, vegan leather bags, skincare products, eye masks/pillows, vegan cookies, towel sets, and more.
Use Fabric Or Recycled Paper To Wrap Your Gifts
Every Christmas, Aussie households use more than 150,000km of wrapping paper. Luckily, there are some fabulous eco-friendly alternatives to shiny wrapping paper which are recyclable or reusable!
The first eco alternative is brown kraft paper. This cheap, recyclable, easy-to-find wrapping paper acts as a blank canvas for endless possibilities! To jazz it up, wrap twine around the gift and secure some rosemary sprigs, herbs, flowers or a gift tag in place. We also love Earth Greetings Christmas Gift Wrap, made from 100% recycled post-consumer waste.
Next up is Reusable Gift Wrap! We have a tonne of different designs from Hello Snowglobe. These durable, 100% cotton fabric squares are inspired by the Japanese style of wrapping called Furoshiki and can be used indefinitely.
Opt For Eco-Friendly Decorations, Cards & Gift Tags
Every year, the Christmas section in major retail stores becomes bigger, brighter and cheaper. But the decorations, cards and gift tags are often thrown out pretty quickly.
Instead of buying new Christmas decorations this year, why not have a go at making some? We love this simple DIY Gum Wreath, and DIY tealight candle garland too! We also sell Waste Free Christmas Crackers. They are refillable, reusable and of course kinder to the planet.
Here at Flora & Fauna, we have a wonderful range of eco Christmas Cards & Gift Tags — including the Sow N Sow cards, which include a little pack of seeds for your loved one to grow! We’re also a fan of Earth's Greetings Christmas Cards (8 Pack) — these cards are made from 100% post-consumer waste, so they’re home compostable and recyclable!
Make A List Of Food (& Check It Twice!)
For many of us, food is the best part of Christmas! What’s not so great is the leftover food waste and the ingredients that we use for one recipe (and ignore for the rest of the year).
This year, make a list and check it twice! Take a few minutes to think about what dishes you’ll be making for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day (and even Boxing Day), and how many people you’ll be cooking for. On your grocery list, put a mark next to ingredients with a short shelf-life, or use OzHarvest’s new Use It Up Tape!
Here at Flora & fauna, we have a huge range of Reusable Food Pouches, Reusable Food Covers, Compostable Food Wrap & Storage, and Food Storage Containers. We love the Green + Kind Reusable Silicone Food Pouches, which are fantastic for freezing leftovers!
Having a ‘greener’ Christmas doesn’t mean you have to miss out on traditions! It’s helpful to take a step back from the hype and consider ways to reduce waste, plus the time and money spent on these holiday traditions. These simple, sustainable tips are truly better for you and better for the planet — so, we hope you have a greener Christmas this year!
Please take a look at our Gift Ideas category and the blogs below for some more eco-friendly festive inspiration.
Your Eco-Friendly Christmas Gift Guide
