Thinking Sustainably For The Holidays

Press release from the Cromaine District Library:

December 6, 2020

Decking the halls is one of my favorite things about winter holidays--glowing lights and winter-themed decorations bring so much beauty to the dreary winter. But loads of plastic tinsel and broken decorations are thrown away every year. To avoid adding this garbage to landfills, I like to use biodegradable decorations as much as I can.

It’s fun and rewarding to get creative with native plants and other natural materials. This year, I gathered some birch logs and twigs from a tree that fell last summer, a large stone from my garden, and even threw in some leftover gourds that are still hanging on from my fall harvest. Pinecones, acorns, spruce sprigs, and some dried eucalyptus cuttings also added a more natural element to the decorations, and a few small cuttings of native dogwood added a touch of red to go with all the green and white. Overall I was really happy with how this came out, and adding some lights is a bonus! Some other props that work really well for winter decorations include old boots or ice skates, wooden milk crates or tin buckets to add height, wicker baskets, jars, and more!

An old pair of hiking boots and sprigs of eucalyptus and spruce liven up my front door without producing any waste for the following spring.

There are tons of inspirational photos online to help you get started with your own sustainable winter decorating--just keep in mind that some plant materials will be toxic to pets, like eucalyptus, or dangerous to little ones who like to put everything in their mouths.

While I love stringing up lights throughout the winter, I try to enjoy them in a sustainable way. I reuse all of my lights and decorations whenever possible, but if you need new lights I would highly recommend searching a secondhand store. You can test the lights at the store, and I even got my secondhand lights for half the price that they would have been new. You may even find some cute vintage lights that are really unique. Plus, you’re saving those used lights from ending up in the trash. If you really want to explore sustainability with your décor, there are some wonderful solar powered lights on the market as well.

Finding the perfect gift can be challenging enough, and trying to make the gift waste-free can feel even more daunting. I like to keep things simple by gifting presents that are useful and relevant to the recipient, and don’t cause clutter. Your gift doesn’t have to be over the top or flashy in order for someone to really appreciate it. Here are a few of my favorite gift ideas that not only prevent waste, but can also help you save money.

I love crafting handmade presents--they’re thoughtful, personalized, and can have so much more meaning than a purchased gift. For example, a homemade ornament can be made from a huge variety of skill levels! If you love knitting or crocheting, a yarn ornament might be fun to make. If you like wire-wrapping jewelry, make the clasp or loop into a small hook and you have an ornament! If you like baking, you could try handmade salt dough ornaments--and the list goes on. Painting, building, repurposing…. almost any skill can make a handmade ornament or gift. For example, have you heard of our Ornament Sales for Foster Closet of Michigan? This wonderful drive is possible because a skilled woodcarver makes beautiful ornaments and donates them to Cromaine to sell as a Cromaine Cares initiative.

If you’re not feeling particularly crafty this holiday season, you could save money by finding their favorite author or film at a thrift shop, or other secondhand gifts that are in good shape like antiques, collectibles, or jewelry. Making a donation to a cause close to your loved ones heart is also a wonderful gift, as long as the recipient would appreciate it.

You could also buy someone an experience--like a movie ticket, spa treatment, or beer/wine tasting--or substitute the experience for a home version of it. Since many of us are not able to go out for our experiences this year, I’ve started making themed gift baskets for my loved ones. For example, a “movie night” basket--with items such as popcorn, candy, hot cocoa, and fuzzy socks--would not go unappreciated by the person in your life who loves to snuggle up to a good movie or TV show in the evening. A coffee or tea basket could include some special coffee or tea, a mug, and some favorite biscuits, chocolates, or snacks. Small gifts like bath salts, foot scrubs, body butter, and scented candles could make a wonderful spa basket. Finally, a beer tasting basket could be made with a build-your-own six pack, sample-sized beer glasses, and some fun food pairings like cheeses and chocolates.

A holiday tin filled with gifts for a coffee-loving friend on the left; fresh ground coffee, a holiday mug, and some snacks: and a basket for a movie-lover on the right; hot cocoa, fuzzy socks, popcorn, and candy.

The wonderful thing about gift baskets is that they don’t need to be expensive. Most gifts can be found at a grocery store, and if you keep your eye out for sales throughout the month, you’re sure to find great options at a discount. These baskets are so fun to make, and they can go whatever direction you want! The sincerity and detail put into the basket really shines through as a thoughtful gift--plus, they don’t need to be wrapped, which saves paper waste.

If you’ve picked out some presents that won’t work in a basket, wrapping them is a whole other ordeal. Wrapping paper is a huge contributor to holiday season trash, and a great way to reduce this is using substitutes for wrapping paper. For small gifts, I like to use cute decorated jars, holiday tins, boxes, and other containers. This way, the recipient can save the container and enjoy it along with the gift, and reuse it however they want.

Holiday tins are wonderful for holding presents big and small! They're also wonderful for gifts that are oddly shaped or difficult to wrap.

I’ve reused some of my holiday boxes for holding cat toys.

For gifts that won’t fit into a box or jar, I like to save materials I find for gift-wrapping throughout the year such as bandannas, cloth linens, scarves, tapestries, and other cloths like burlap. These materials can be found at secondhand stores for very cheap, and look wonderful as a gift wrap, especially when decorated with some pine sprigs or a handmade gift label (learn here how to make gift tags out of old holiday cards to reuse paper and prevent waste). If you need some inspiration for using cloth to wrap gifts, check out the Japanese art of Furoshiki for some folding tips and tricks.

Linen cloths, burlap, and scarves/shawls all make wonderful waste-free gift wraps that can be treasured and used again and again!

And if you must use paper, you could try wrapping your gifts in newspaper (using the comic section can look really cute), brown crafting paper, or gift bags that can be reused.

While many of us are avoiding gatherings this holiday season, it’s still important to understand the issue of food waste. It may only feel like a small amount of waste when a serving or two of food is thrown away, but Pete Pearson, Director of Food Waste at the World Wildlife Foundation, explains that wasting food is also a waste of the valuable resources used to produce that food; “When we throw away food, we’re also throwing away the land, water, and energy used to produce that food.” That’s why I take a few measures during the holidays (and whenever I’m doing a lot of food preparation) to ensure that I’m not wasting food.

One great way to avoid wasting food is to try not to make too much food in the first place. I know it looks beautiful to have a table loaded with meats, side dishes, vegetables, and desserts on our favorite holidays, but is it worth spending the following week frantically trying to use it all, and inevitably wasting some? I like to have enough food for leftovers, while not preparing so much that I can’t eat it all before it goes bad. With leftovers, I like to get creative--there are a lot of recipe ideas for holiday leftovers online. Extra fruit can be frozen and used for smoothies throughout the winter, and leftover meats and veggies can make some wonderful winter soups. If some food does go bad before you’re able to get to it, I highly recommend composting if you’re able. Much of my extra food can go to my chickens. Keeping these small changes in mind might help prevent food from ending up in the garbage.

There are so many creative ways to think sustainably for the holiday season. From indoor and outdoor decorations to gifts and food, a little creativity goes a long way in making the holidays more environmentally friendly. Enjoy your celebrations this month, and thank you for considering sustainable living while you do so!

This press release was produced by the Cromaine District Library. The views expressed are the author's own.