Even though the holidays can be such a fun time of year, between treating your friends and family to a thoughtful gift or simply lounging on the couch on your phone and ordering some goodies from the end-of-the-year sales, it’s not the most sustainable and eco-friendly time of year.
According to CBC, household waste can increase by as much as 25% around the holidays. So even if you’ve been trying your hardest not to overspend and doing your best to shop local, decorating for the holidays can cause extra waste to accumulate that will likely end up in landfills.
Luckily, there are a number of ways you can decorate your home for the holidays that look timeless and perfectly festive — plus, a lot of them can involve the kids and allow for all of your creative juices to flow everything red, green, and completely magical for the season.
Here are seven easy and sustainable ways to decorate for the holidays.
Use the decorations you already have instead of heading to the stores or shopping online.
If you're someone who is consistently turning to Pinterest for holiday decor inspiration, it can be really tempting to add to your collection when you spot something sparkly and cute, but do you actually need it?
Before you start adding to your shopping cart, it's a better idea for the environment (and your wallet) to head up to the attic or out to the garage and get out all of your holiday decor bins and see what you already have.
Often what's old becomes new again, so you might find yourself completely enchanted by your Christmas village from 10 years ago that you stopped putting out. Or you might want to spruce up your classic-looking wreath by making it a brand new bow. It always pays to make use of what you already have and it's better for the environment as well.
Try making some dried orange garland for a rustic and traditional holiday look.
If you’ve been online recently, you’ve likely spotted the popular holiday decor trend of dried oranges and pondered if you should try to bring this fruity and rustic decoration to life in your own home. The answer here is obviously yes.
The Sustainably Chic blog lays out some easy instructions on how to create your own dried orange garland that can sit beautifully on any fireplace mantle or Christmas tree. Really, all you have to do to get started is slice up a few oranges and try to get out as much of the juice as possible.
The blog suggests that you then bake the orange slices in the oven at 250 degrees for two hours and then let them fully dry on a rack for a couple of days. Then, you’re good to thread them together to create your own dried orange garland. Not only will these garlands add a pop of color to your holiday decor, but you made them yourself at home and didn’t break the bank or add harm to the environment with new packages coming in.
Make some cardboard gingerbread houses with the kids to create your own little village.
Remember those packages we were just talking about? If there’s one thing that starts to add up this time of year throughout the holiday shopping season, it’s cardboard boxes. Even if you’ve tried to cut down on things, you’re bound to have a few extra boxes lying around, so why not use them to create some super cute gingerbread houses.
For some easy instructions, check out this tutorial from Little Red Window. Faux gingerbread house making allows for a fun activity to do with kids, but if your kids are really little, be sure to keep the craft knife you’ll need for cutting in a safe place and do all of the cutting for them. A little white paint for giving each house its own gingerbread-like flourishes, as well as some white tissue paper for the windows, can really help to set these mini cottages apart.
Get creative by making your own holiday wreaths to hang around the house.
Have you ever been out for a walk in your neighborhood during the month of December and passed by a house with a really cool-looking wreath and made a mental note about wanting to recreate something like that for your own door? Well, if you’re trying to be more sustainable while also saving a little money, it may be time to discover your own wreath-making skills.
Real Homes offers a great how-to guide on how to use mostly natural materials, such as eucalyptus and berries, to make your own wreath. Really though, you can feel free to go around your yard and forage and cut off some pine sprigs and even some crab apples for a pop of festive color. Then, you simply start arranging on a wreath frame or some rounded or square wire you formed yourself. To engage all of your senses, be sure to pick some natural items from your backyard that smell like the season!
Decorate your holiday table with some festive natural touches from outdoors.
One way you can be sure to impress all of the guests gathering at your next holiday meal, plus keep things more eco-friendly, is to decorate your dining table with some homemade and natural pieces from the outdoors that will allow your place settings to feel unique and personalized.
Pebble Mag has some ideas that will take no time at all, including how you can take your holiday table up a notch by incorporating seasonal foraged items such as holly, rosemary, pine cones, sage leaves, and more.
It also suggests that if you have some old mason jars or glass vases hanging around, it can really make for a beautiful centerpiece to artistically arrange some natural items to serve as a distinctive “decorative element” for the holiday table.
Get or make a reusable Advent calendar that the family can fill up and reuse every single year.
Even though it can be a lot of fun to check out the new advent calendars each year and pick out your favorite for each kid, they often turn into a lot of waste, especially if it’s a yearly tradition for every member of the family.
One way to continue that same family tradition in a new and more sustainable way is to get rid of the brand-new monthly calendar each year and invest in a wooden reusable advent calendar that you can easily customize and put your own treats in for the season. You can also make your own out of fabric!
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You could do anything from candy or chocolates to little beauty-related treats, and the really fun part is that you’re able to pick things out for your loved ones that you know they will love and use and you don’t have to feel guilty about buying yet another holiday advent calendar.
Deck out your tree with some handmade ornaments you can make with the kids and cherish every single year.
When you head over to a friend’s place and notice the beautiful details on their holiday tree or even as you scroll through social media and take a look at the tags on some of your favorite influencers' posts, it can be an easy thing to hit that "Add to cart" button and shop for new tree ornaments and decor. But if you’re trying to maintain a more sustainable way of life, especially throughout the holidays, you could always try your hand at making some homemade ornaments.
If you have a craft corner at home, you may already have plenty of felt, twine, and other crafty materials that you need to make a variety of homemade ornaments, so it can be a great way to spend an afternoon in December with the kids.
HGTV also has a few suggestions for upcycling things around your home that you would normally discard, including lightbulbs that you can easily transform into miniature snowman ornaments.
