As December quickly approaches (and so does the snow—eek!), I’m beginning to plan for the holidays. I love to be with family this time of year, and I especially enjoy giving just the right, thoughtful gifts to those loved ones. I’ve been thinking about this year’s holiday shopping list a lot, as it’s a little difficult keeping Christmas plastic-free. From gift bags to the presents inside of them, the majority of holiday items on the market are bursting at the seams with plastic. In an attempt to keep the festivities as zero waste as possible, I’ve provided a breakdown of easy hacks to keep this season plastic-free.
Hack: Wrapping Paper and Gift Bags
This year, ditch the gift bags, tissue paper, and wrapping paper, and wrap your gifts in newspaper or cloth. If you really want to use gift bags, tell your family and friends that you’d like to keep and reuse the bag and to return it once they unpack their gifts. You can continue to use these bags for every holiday.
I think this year I might not even wrap my gifts and just hand deliver them in cloth grocery shopping bags. I’ll pretend I’m Santa passing out toys from my sack to the children!
Hack: Single-use Plastic Gifts
I love getting scented candles and bubble bath as gifts—especially during the cold winter months. There’s nothing more relaxing than putting those and a glass of wine to good use. However, candles often come with harmful chemicals in their wax, and bath goodies are almost always in plastic bottles. I decided that this year I’d make as many of my gifts as possible, like all-natural soy candles (recipes here and here) and sugar scrubs in glass Mason jars (recipe here).
People will appreciate that you took the time to make their gifts, plus the candles and scrubs will smell amazing (and be all-natural!).
Hack: Shopping for Clothes
It’s funny; as a child, I hated getting clothes for Christmas. What a rip-off, I wanted a toy! Now, I love getting new clothes, whether it be a business top for the office or running pants for the gym. I do most of my clothes shopping at secondhand shops (in our area, we have a consignment store, Plato’s Closet, with a BUNCH of trendy, cute clothing to choose from). What’s old to one person is new to another, so give your family and friends the gift of a secondhand outfit. This helps reuse and recycle clothing, instead of letting it pile up in a landfill. Plus, you’re bound to find a great steal that you can’t get at the mall.
Hack: Retail Chains
In my city, we’ve got a great market that features local vendors, who sell everything from handmade artwork and handbags to bath bombs and soaps. You’re likely to have something similar in your area, just ask around or Google for suggestions. I like to support these sellers for a number of reasons; they’re local, yes, but their products usually come in minimal or no packaging and are made of all-natural, real ingredients with no plastic in sight. I actually got a really great reusable cloth sandwich/chip bag from a waste-free vendor there.
Writing this blog post has gotten me even more excited to get cracking on my gift giving this year. I can’t wait to share with you all what I give my family and friends!
Plastic-free, Please! 