As people are starting to think about Christmas, we thought it would be a good time to show you how you can be creative over the festive period to stay away from some of the single-use plastics that make up many of the traditions we’ve become familiar with.
We appreciate not everyone has the time to do all of our suggestions, but if you do have any free time to attempt some of them, you’ll likely find that these are some really fun activities you can enjoy along with the rest of your family 🙂
Our first suggestion is…
Make your own Christmas crackers
Most Christmas crackers contain plastic toys that have a certain amount of novelty value but lack any real use and sadly often end up in people’s waste bins.
There’s been some talk on social media recently around the amounts of these that are thrown away every year and whilst we can’t confirm any of the figures mentioned, they’re definitely a big problem.
A solution to this is making your own Christmas crackers, which is actually much easier than you’d think and pretty fun as well.
There’s some great guides on Youtube showing how you can do this, just remember to use recyclable materials and stay away from laminated papers, glitters and plastic add-ons.
Try to surprise someone with how creative you’ve been. Or maybe have a competition with the rest of your family or friends and see who can make the best one?
Get the younger members of your family involved by asking them to write festive messages/jokes that you can include inside, which adds a personal touch.
Plus, by making your own crackers, instead of the novelty plastic gift, you’ll actually get to put something inside your family or friends can enjoy and get real use from. Much more than they could from a flimsy plastic yo-yo anyway 🙂
Eco-wrap your Xmas presents
We recently told you how not all wrapping paper can be recycled. Take a look at this article for a reminder.
A sure-fire way to guarantee you’ll be able to recycle all your used wrapping paper is by eco-wrapping them in the first place.
Wrapping your presents with brown paper and string actually gives them a cool, quirky look. Or, if you want to make them a bit more colourful, you can always add a bit of holly or a reusable bow.
Another funky idea is to use an old comic to wrap your presents. We gave it a go recently and we were very pleased with the results.
Edible Christmas tree decorations
Have you ever considered using edible Christmas tree decorations opposed to plastic figurines?
Take up our challenge and see how creative you can get with this 🙂
Even if you’re not the most creative person, you can bake shortbread biscuits into hearts or Christmas tree shapes fairly easily. Just make a hole in the biscuits before you bake them so you can hang them with string.
It’s another fun way for the whole family to get involved, plus you get some tasty rewards 🙂
Did you enjoy any of these suggestions? If so, we hope you have fun trying them out with your friends and family.
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