Celebrations – Sustainable(ish)

Category Archives for Celebrations

Crap-free Christmas – wrapping with less waste

I genuinely can't remember the last time we bought any wrapping paper!
I'm a firm convert to fabric wrapping and have a stash of headscarves I've managed to find in charity shops, as well as a growing pile of fabric gift bags made from a Christmas duvet set I bought last year on Vinted. Honestly, this has transformed not only how full our recycling bin is in the New Year, but also how long it takes to wrap presents - SO quick and easy!

Here some other ideas for less waste wrapping!

PS. Bear in mind that whatever you're wrapping is probably a much higher impact than the wrapping paper, so making more thoughtful decisions about presents is also actively encouraged!

Buy recyclable paper
  • Avoid shiny metallic paper or any wrapping paper with glitter on it.
    Do the ‘scrunch test’ to see if it can be recycled:  Scrunch your wrapping paper up into a ball. If it stays scrunched it can be recycled (as long as it hasn't got glitter on it). If it starts to unfurl, it's probably got plastic or metal in it and can't be recycled.
    Remember to check with your local authority whether they will take wrapping paper - some local authorities won’t take any wrapping paper at all due to high levels of contamination (eg glitter, sellotape, metallic paper etc) and the fact that some wrapping papers are such poor quality and have very short fibres meaning they can’t be recycled.
  • Plain brown kraft paper can look really effective. You can even let the kids ‘tastefully decorate’ it (potato prints or cookie cutters dipped in water based paint works well) and it can still be recycled (avoid glitter!).
  • Use old newspapers and magazines. If you can bring yourself to do it(!) old sheet music or old maps can look beautiful.
Reusable wrapping 

If you get given gifts wrapped in non-recyclable paper (or indeed any wrapping paper!), channel your inner Nana and nab any big bits of paper as the unwrapping is taking place. A quiet half hour smoothing it all out and carefully peeling off the sellotape (I’m told that ironing it makes the tape peel off more easily) is surprisingly theraputic..!

Fabric wrapping is my new favourite thing. SO quick and easy!

  • Use charity shop headscarves for ‘furoshiki’
  • Nab a Christmas duvet from Vinted and make some fabric gift bags if you’re handy with a sewing machine
  • Check out ‘Wrag Wrap’ - gorgeous sheets of fabric gift wrap
  • Or search online for ‘reusable fabric gift bags’
What do you do for wrapping?
Have you tried/are you going to try Furoshiki? 
Do let me know!
INTRODUCING THE CRAP-FREE CHRISTMAS COURSE!

Join me and a merry band of similarly challenged Crap-free Christmas wannabees as we dive into into the nitty gritty, the practicalities and the emotional minefields of a festive season with less crap and more joy!

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Crap-free Christmas – Christmas trees

"Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, what is the greenest ver-er-sion"** Sing to the tune of "Oh Christmas tree...!
There's way bigger things in life (and at Christmas) to stress over, but if you've found yourself wondering what the 'greenest' version of a Christmas tree is, here's some info!

Artificial Trees

The biggest impact from artificial trees comes from their production - they're made from metal and plastic, usually in a factory far away, so have significantly more 'embedded carbon' than a real tree.At the end of their life, they will simply sit in landfill for decades to come.
HOWEVER they can be used for decades!

 **It's estimated that you need to use an artificial tree for at least 10 years before it has a lower environmental impact than a natural tree.**

Real trees

Real trees obviously absorb CO2 as they're growing, so their 'embedded carbon' footprint is much lower than an artificial tree. However there can be emissions associated with transporting it, so finding a local grower is a good idea.
The biggest impact from real trees, comes from their disposal - the worst case scenario being landfill where they will rot and release methane (a potent greenhouse gas).

The 'gold standard' is to get a tree with a root ball that you can plant out and then re-use each year, however not everyone has the space (or the green fingers!) for this.

RENTAL TREES
Depending on where you live, you might be able to rent a real Christmas tree!
You can go and pick your tree, it arrives, in a pot with it's root intact. You decorate it and look after it over Christmas. Then the company come and collect it, plant it out again, ready to do the whole thing again next year!

Upcycled trees

Something as simple as a ‘festive branch’ can work really well and look amazing. For less traditional ideas, Pinterest is your friend, and you will find all kinds of creative ideas.
The 'pros' for upcycled trees are: 

  • Re-using something that might otherwise end up as waste
  • Unleashes' your creativity!
  • Can be used again and again

But there is a major caveat in that they may cause tears if Pinterest aspirations not met...!
Here are some that we’ve tried over the years...

What are you doing for your Christmas tree?
And which is your favourite of our upcycled trees?!
Do let me know!
INTRODUCING THE CRAP-FREE CHRISTMAS COURSE!

Join me and a merry band of similarly challenged Crap-free Christmas wannabees as we dive into into the nitty gritty, the practicalities and the emotional minefields of a festive season with less crap and more joy!

MORE INFO


Read more

Crap-free Christmas – alternative Advent Calendars

Depending on what you do, Advent calendars can be as low impact as last year's cardboard version with the doors stuck back down a la the 1980's, or plastic tat-tastic if you've been sucked into the idea that the kids should get a small thing each day (guilty as charged).

Here are a few ideas for Advent Calendars with less waste, less stuff and more of a focus on giving and doing:

"Advent-ure" calendar 

(totally stole this word from one of the Clubhouse members!)
Aka Christmas-y things to do each day.
 
Instead of a chocolate or some plastic tat, pop in a slip of paper with a 'thing to do together' each day. This is a nice way of starting to try and shift the focus of your Christmas from 'stuff' to 'time spent together'.
Depending on the ages of your kids this could be things like "make mince pies", "star in your school nativity play", "visit the library to choose some Christmas books", "snuggle up and watch a Christmas movie"...

There's a whole printable list of ideas in the Crap-free Christmas course.


Acts of Kindness calendar 

Similar to the above, but your slip of paper has suggestions for Random Acts of Kindness eg "send a card to the local nursing home" or "take some mince pies to a neighbour" etc

Reverse Advent calendar 

Pop an item for the foodbank into a box each day (you might want to drop this off at the foodbank before Christmas eve to give them time to get it to those who need it)

Homemade Lego or jigsaw Advent Calendar 

Fran in the Sustainable(ish) Clubhouse does her own homemade Lego version with a secondhand set from Vinted, putting in the right pieces for each instruction in the set each day. And I've seen other people break up a jigsaw puzzle to do together.

Photos from the year 

I do this for my husband! I scroll back through our photos on our phones from the year, and get a selection printed out. Pop one a day into a numbered envelope and jumble them up. The idea is then to put them into an album come the New Year (we always fail miserably to do this...)

What are you doing Advent Calendar wise this year?
INTRODUCING THE CRAP-FREE CHRISTMAS COURSE!

Join me and a merry band of similarly challenged Crap-free Christmas wannabees as we dive into into the nitty gritty, the practicalities and the emotional minefields of a festive season with less crap and more joy!

MORE INFO


Read more

HOW TO HAVE A SUSTAINABLE(ISH) HALLOWEEN

Did you know...? 
  • 79% of households with children will dress up for Halloween
  • Around 39 million people in the UK dressed up for Halloween last year  
  • 7 million costumes ended up in the bin in 2016 
  • 4 in 10 costumes are worn only once
  • 15 million pumpkins are binned every Halloween 
COSTUMES

Halloween costumes are around 80% plastic, so if you've been diligently using your resusable water bottle and coffee cup, all of your good work could be undone with one single Halloween costume! Just think of all the fossil fuels that have gone into making and transporting all of those costumes - set yourself a challenge this year to kit out the family without buying new. 

  • Use what you've already got - if your kids have an outfit from last year and it still fits, wear it again!
  • Swap - have a simple swap with friends with kids of a similar age, or see if your school will host one. 
  • Rent - I'm going to put this in as it feels like it should be an option, however a quick Ecosia (planet friendly search engine - more info here) search didn't find much
    If you know of any good sources, do let us know in the comments!
  • Buy secondhand - at this time of year the charity shops are bulging with Halloween costumes. Save the planet's resources, as well as yourself some money and have a little Halloween hunt around your local charity shops
  • Make one - you don't have to be an evil Halloween genius, or a whiz with a sewing machine - whatever happened to the good old 'sheet over the head ghost'?
DECORATIONS

Again, most of these are made of plastic and designed to be effectively single use and consigned to landfill as we hit November. Engage in your own little act of planet friendly rebellion this year:

  • If you know anyone with an allotment they might have a selection of pumpkins and squashes going spare that make very tasteful table decorations - you can couple them up with some colourful autumn leaves for the full effect
  • If your kids aren't really into tasteful (and whose are?) then the charity shop is your friend - have a scout for anything ghoulish you can rehome
  • Get crafty with the kids - it's half-term for many of us, so kill two birds with one stone, and stop the kids whinging that they're bored by putting them work getting creative. Red Ted Art is my go-to site for anything crafty with the kids, and has loads of great Halloween ideas
PUMPKINS

Mostly grown and bought for decoration, and dumped in the bin once the fun is over. Where sadly, the scary stuff really starts - once in landfill, they will ferment and release methane, a greenhouse gas around 30x more potent than carbon dioxide. Don't bin it! 

  • Save the scooped out flesh and make soup - it's 'souper' easy (see what I did there..) and a sneaky way to get some veg into the kids
  • Or get more creative - BBC Good Food has loads of ideas, including pumpkin hummous and a pumpkin and caramel cake
  • If you're feeling uber keen, you can also save the pumpkin seeds, dry them and roast them
  • Please please please don't send them to landfill once you're done. If you have a food waste collection, pop it in there. If you have a compost heap, pop it in there. If you have chickens, they will love it. Failing all of that, maybe contact your local allotments to see if you can add it to their compost heap?
  • Hubbb are in the 5th year of their amazing #pumpkinrescue campaign - check out their page here for more ideas, and for events near you
TRICK OR TREAT

From the pumpkin shaped plastic buckets to collect their swag, through to the plastic wrapped 'fun sized' sweets we hand into clamouring hands at the front door, for the planet it feels like more 'trick' than 'treat'.

  • Use last years special plastic bucket!
  • Find yourself a special bucket in the charity shop
  • Make yourself one from a milk bottle (could be decorated to make a great ghost's head) or a cereal box with string handles
  • Don't bother with a special bucket...
  • For treats to hand out, I'm not sure there is an easy quick win - the idea of unwrapped pick and mix might save on waste but does make me feel slightly nauseous at the thought of all those delightful sticky hands delving around in there.
    Homemade mini cupcakes or biscuits work well if you can be arsed have the time. I've seen some suggestions of fruit, which might actually be a win, win if you don't really want many visitors next year 😉
PARTY...!

If you're planning a party for your little darlings, don't rush out and buy disposable Halloween themed plates and tableware, see if you have a Reusable Party Kit near you - check out the Party Kit Network to see if you have one near you, and hire reusable plates, cups and bowls.

Do you 'do' Halloween?
Are you planning a 'less scary' (for the planet) celebration this year?
What have you got planned? Do let us know!

My very own 'little monsters' - red food colouring 'blood' and an old skirt made into a cape...

We got creative with some gingerbread and the cookie cutters we already had: Christmas star = spiders web; gingerbread man = skeleton; upsidedown dinosaur = bat; upsidedown Christmas angel = ghost

Thanks to the guys at Hubbub for lots of these scary stats - I knew Halloween was supposed to be scary, but when we stop for a minute and think about the waste, it becomes pretty terrifying!

So does this mean we have to be a Halloween Humbug?
Or is there a way to indulge the kids (and some grown ups too...) without inadvertently trashing the planet?
Of course there is!

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SUSTAINABLE(ISH) OPTIONS FOR NATIVITY COSTUMES

My youngest has just moved into Key Stage 2 and in our school that signals the end of Nativity plays for us. I'm equal parts sad and relieved - it really does feel like the end of an era, but at the same time there's no more late night panics trying to throw together a Nativity costume at the last minute.
I'm proud to say that we managed to get through our Nativity Days without ever having to resort to an Amazon or supermarket special - which are kind of like the fast fashion of the Christmas Story - cheaply made, mass produced synthetic fabrics, and will only be worn a handful of times. However that doesn't mean that I spent October and November glued to a sewing machine - our costumes have I think epitomised all the things a Nativity costume should be: thrown together using stuff we had lying around; evidently homemade; and ultimately probably a little bit crap compared to some of the other shop bought wonders. But for me, that's what it's all about - after all, what's a Nativity without a tea towel head dress?

Here are some easy ideas to help you avoid having to resort to splashing the cash on a mass produced monstrosity made who knows where and for who knows what, that even if doesn't especially damage your bank balance will be damaging the planet.

1. SWAP

We have class Facebook groups, and at Nativity time it's such an easy way to find out who has what outfit lurking at the back of their cupboards, and to all lend to each other. This year we've gone a step further and are having a nativity swap shop one afternoon after school - we're getting people to drop off any outfits they have that they won't use this year in the week beforehand, then selling them straight after school for £1 each with all proceeds going to the PTA 🙂

2. SEARCH FOR SECONDHAND 

- I just did a quick search on eBay for "Nativity Costumes" and after ticking the 'used' box in the search criteria, it still came up with over 400 results - everything from shepherds to stars and camels to Kings.
- Check out your local charity shops - many have dressing up sections, and this time of year will probably be dragging the nativity costumes out of storage to see what they can pass on.
- Put out a WANTED request in your local Freecycle or Freegle group - there's bound to be someone near you who has what you need and is prepared to gift it or loan it to you.

3. RENT

I've just spent a fruitless half hour searching the interweb for nativity costume rental. I was going to say that someone is missing a trick here and that there must be a gap in the market, but I'm guessing that sadly as they are so (relatively) cheap to buy new, it's just not viable to rent them out 🙁
Do let me know if you know of any rental places that will hire out nativity costumes, and I can amend this post.

4. MAKE

Making a costume is really not as hard work as it might seem. If you hit lucky and get shepherd, inn keeper, Joseph or King, any version of a pillowcase tunic and a curtain cloak will work a treat 😉
If that's not cutting it, check out this post here from The School Run with 8 No Sew Nativity Costumes.

5. BUY ETHICAL

Whilst searching for rental options for nativity costumes I stumbled across While Shepherds Watched - a UK based company that use Fair-trade cotton to make their costumes. Some are made in India and support local craftspeople, and some have been made in the UK by a Workers' Co-operative.

Do you still 'nativity'?
What's been your favourite homemade outfit? Or what tips have you got for avoiding the fast fashion monstrosities?
Let me know in the comments!
INTRODUCING THE CRAP-FREE CHRISTMAS COURSE!

Join me and a merry band of similarly challenged Crap-free Christmas wannabees as we dive into into the nitty gritty, the practicalities and the emotional minefields of a festive season with less crap and more joy!

MORE INFO

Read more