Have an eco-friendly X'mas for a greener New Year! Ramya Iyer brings you some green ideas to have an extraordinary Christmas and care for the environment at the same time. Get your creative juices flowing
Wrap it with a punch line
If one collects the gift wrapping paper that gets wasted every year, the whole planet could probably be gift wrapped! This year, use the comics’ pages of the Sunday newspapers as gift wrap and present some extra reasons for giggles. Even old magazine pages are a good alternative. To make it more personalised, especially while wrapping gifts for your parents, you could use your old paintings and drawings. It’s sure to get them all nostalgic about your good old times together!
Numerous pamphlets, maps and brochures that are handed out to you on the streets have very good paper quality. You may use these for gift wrapping. Tape up a few together to create a patchwork design. Empty shoe boxes and other cardboard boxes are all time favourites too. Save some trees and get green gift wraps pronto.
Joy of giving
Gift yourself the joy of giving. Collect old clothes, toys, and other stuff from your neighbourhood or work place and hand distribute them to disadvantaged people. This will give you the satisfaction of personally aiding the needy and will be the source of a real high!
Green gifts
Try buying children battery-free toys; toys which have a manual mechanism, a keying mechanism or handmade wooden toys. If you are buying a present that uses batteries make sure you buy them with rechargeable batteries. E-cards instead of paper cards will be highly appreciated as well. They are just a click away and you can save so much on courier, money, and even your time!
Even seeds and small trees to be planted in the ground are wonderful gifts that will grow for years to come. This gift will never go out of fashion nor will it wear out.
Dress me green
You need enough light to guide Santa Claus to your home, not to heat up the whole planet. Use energy saving lights, 20W bulbs instead of 100W ones. Use strings of popcorn to decorate the Christmas tree. This is an inexpensive and eco-friendly idea. When Christmas is over, you can put the string outside for birds to eat. Make paper chains of magazines for additional decoration.
As for extra lights, you may consider using soy-based candles or candles made of beeswax. How about taking a new step in creativity and lighting beautiful colourful diyas for this year’s Christmas party? Your get-together will definitely be the talk of the town!
See the world through green-coloured glasses and start new ecologically-minded traditions this Christmas for the years to come! After all, what’s a better way to celebrate the season of giving than giving back to Mother Earth?
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