Blogmas day 8! Welcome back to Christmas with Cath… we really should have called it that! Anyway, today’s blog post is all about sustainability, and little things you can do this Christmas season to make a big (positive) impact on the planet.

I really hope you use these tips! 

Use recyclable paper to wrap presents with

If you don’t know if your wraping paper is recyclable, do the crinkle test! Scrunch it – and if it ‘unscrunches’ then it contains plastic or some other material that isn’t recyclable. I use brown paper to wrap my presents and this is a great option! Try to use recycled paper if you can. The brown paper also adds a nice rustice *aesthetic* touch to the prezzies.

Buy locally

Avoid shipping and get something from your local area! Shipping is costly to the environment (and your bank account). Supporting small businesses is also really cute, if you can afford it, but if not then popping into town (mask on of course) buying something from Wilko and avoiding the excess packaging of an online order is a great sustainable choice! 

Use last year’s Christmas cards as gift tags

After Christmas every year, my mum and I cut up the nice cards to turn them into gift tags! This is a great way to reuse existing paper (we don’t want to cut down loads of trees!). This also makes each gift tag individual and unique! A very cute touch to any Christmas gift.

Make your presents

If there’s anything you can make that your friends and family would appreciate, go for it! It tests your DIY ability and makes every gift nice and personalised. Or, at the very least, make your Christmas cards.

Buy from small businesses

Small businesses have had a really rough year so now, more than ever, it’s important to support them. I have my own small business selling scrunchies! All the profits go towards my service trip to Kenya in 2022. On this trip I’m going to facilitate school sessions for under-priveliged children near Mombasa. All scrunchies are £2 and I’m offering some Christmas patterns at the moment!

Make your own festive treats if you can

Earlier on in blogmas I shared 5 festive baking recipes. Knowing where what you eat comes from is comforting! Baking is also a really good activity to do at Christmastime. 

Read the label! So much festive food contains palm oil. Nasty.

It scares me that so much processed food contains palm oil. Palm oil is so destructive to the environment and by eliminating as many palm oil products as possible you are SAVING the future of the HUMAN RACE. Rainforests contribute so much oxygen to this planet and the destructive nature of palm oil culture (80,000 acres of tropical rainforests daily) will quickly lead to the end of Earth as we know it.

Donate some money

It’s the most wonderful time of the year… to support people who are less fortunate than you are.

Wrap up warm: limit the amount of heating you are using

Northern hemisphere peeps! It gets extremely cold. Try to turn the heating down a notch this winter, and wrap up warm. 

Buy cruelty-free skincare products

If you’re planning to buy any skincare products this season, please ensure they are cruelty free! I always think about the run up to New Year as an opportunity to practise self-care (face masks, lots of baths, piling up the body lotion). That’s not to say you can’t do these things at other times of the year, of course. But if you’re going to buy bath bombs for your mum, make sure they’re cruelty-free. This isn’t really about sustainability but it’s too important not to include! 

Thank you for reading until the end! 

What advent calendar do you have this year?

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