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Kicking It With Kelly

Eats, Drinks and Crafts on a Budget!

Five Sustainable Christmas Ideas

by 92 Comments

This is a sponsored post. All opinions are 100% mine. For many, the holidays can equate to wasteful excess that can harm our planet. This year, you can be more socially responsible with these 5 sustainable Christmas ideas!

Five Ways To Have An Eco Friendly Holiday

Knowing the holidays are here, I cringe a bit. Not because I dread them, but because we tend to life to extreme. We have huge amounts of leftover food that gets thrown away, electricity bills are off the charts, and the kids get more gifts than they probably need.

I hate to be wasteful any time of the year, but especially during the holidays. That’s why I decided to sit down and brainstorm new ways to stay as environmentally-conscious as possible: even through the holiday season!

Five Ways To Have An Eco-Friendly Holiday Season

No-Bake Recipes: What good are the holidays without a delicious spread of food? Give your stove a break this year and try to prepare as many “no-bake” recipes as possible.

There are plenty of dishes, both sweet and savory, where an oven isn’t necessary. It’ll help save energy and cut costs on your electricity bill.

LED All The Way: Lights can add so much festive joy during the holidays. I love passing by homes and seeing what others have done with their lighting setups.

If you can’t resist lighting up your home this year, then go for LEDs. They last longer than traditional bulbs and you won’t need as many to create an impact. Great for energy and sustainability!

Five Ways To Have An Eco Friendly Holiday 3

Reusable Gift Wrap: There are many ways to present gifts in sustainable ways. Recently, I came across the most brilliant gift-wrapping system.

Wrapeez is a great, eco-friendly way to wrap your presents. They’re reusable, easy to use and best of all, they’re incredibly cute! One of my favorite sustainable Christmas ideas!

Time Those Lights!: A timer on your Christmas lights is absolutely key in controlling energy use. Whether it be for the lights hanging outside of your house or the ones surrounding your tree, make sure you’ve got them timed to avoid any overuse of electricity.

Say No To Disposables: If you plan on hosting a party this year, stay clear of disposable plates, napkins and flatware. Think of all the piles of trash that goes into landfills.

This is especially true during the holiday season. Plus, it’s a great opportunity to bring out your nice dishes and show them off a little!

Five Ways To Have An Eco Friendly Holiday 2

I am in love with Wrapeez for so many reasons! My first three? No tape, no scissors and no waste! All you need to do is simply stretch it over your gift and you’re all set.

They are perfect for my sustainable Christmas ideas mantra for this holiday season! They are so easy to use, even the kids can wrap gifts!

Wrapeez is made of a special stretch fabric, and comes in a variety of gorgeous colors and patterns. They are perfect for any occasion including the holidays, birthday, anniversary, baby shower and more!

You can purchase Wrapeez in a variety of sizes, ranging in price from $3 for the gift card holder, $6 for a small to their Celebration Bundle, which I chose and retails for $30. The Celebration Bundle comes with two small, two medium and two gift card holders, one of which includes a tag.

I love that they are so easy to use, even if you don’t know how to wrap a gift, you can use the Wrapeez products! See what they’re all about on social media: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Google Plus and YouTube.

Do you have any sustainable Christmas ideas? Tell me your “green ideas” in the comments below!

Comments

  3. I try to be as eco friendly as possible. However that can definitely get pushed aside during the holidays. These are great tips.

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  6. Love this idea! My sister and I are both gift-bag hoarders, we will re-use them until the handles fall off. And we always choose solid colors or neutral patterns instead of holiday-specific bags so they can be used anytime.

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  10. I stay eco friendly by saving the Tshirt boxes that we might recieve in gifts given to us. Some wrapping paper can be salvaged and tissue paper as well. During the Christmas season we tend to constantly be snacking on goodies so I usually keep paper plates, forks, spoons, & cups to use instead.

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  12. We don’t use disposables during family gatherings. Like you said, it is not eco-friendly at all. My mom takes advantage of the holiday season to show off her precious china, most of which are her wedding gifts. I love that idea of Wrapeeze too.

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  13. During the holidays, if I give out gifts, I use reusable gift boxes instead of wrapping paper. Thank you for this opportunity! This seems like an amazing way to stay eco-friendly during the holidays.

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  14. I am not very Eco-friendly during the Holidays. I think these wraps are a neat idea and I would like to try them.

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  16. I collect newspapers from neighbors and use that as my wrapping, also I like to try to make home made gifts as much as possible.
    @tisonlyme143

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  17. I grew up with my parents saving wrapping paper after you unwrap your gift. I am used to opening gently and smoothing out the paper. My kids wanted nothing to do with that, but I do with my own gifts. I always reuse bows. And what does get trashed, goes in our recycle bin.

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  20. We compost and we reuse and recycle everything, including the trash I pick up on my daily walks. I really love the LED lighting idea and if you have any suggestions on where to get a lot of them for DIY projects, please share. The Wrapeez is a genius idea!!

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  21. No bake recipes are my favourite! I love them around the holidays especially. also reusing gift bags and wrap if I can is super helpful too! Very ecofriendly!

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  22. I use the timer always on my tree as the plug is so hard to get to and now that I am disabled not only does it help with the bill, I just cant crawl under the tree nor do I want to! I also use old Christmas cards for gift tags! Saves money and the backs are bank so much easier to read!

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  24. I sm not the best. My family always reuses bags. When I was young my grandma used to save bows.. it became too much!

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  30. What a great idea. I never even thought about how bad the holidays are for our environment! But man when you think about it, it’s awful!

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  31. I don’t know that I do anything extra to stay green during the holidays. Mostly just doing what I do year-round: recycling plastic bottles and papers.

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  33. I don’t get upset if I run out of wrapping paper during the holidays. Instead I will use foil paper to wrap gifts and add ribbons along with bows to enhance the decorative look.

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  37. I use re-useable shopping bags during the holidays to cut down on plastic bags. We also recycle our Christmas tree by feeding them to our goats.

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  42. Best way I have found to eliminate those high bills is to not participate in all of the hype in the first place. Happy Holidays Enjoy them!

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  43. we tend to reuse our holiday gift bags every year. we also put our lights on a timer to make sure they aren’t going all the time. we buy organic foods to make as well.

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  45. Wrapeez looks like a fantastic way to wrap gifts. I will have to look for some for this holiday season. These are great ways to have a eco friendly holiday.

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  46. It’s just my mom & I, so we don’t wrap gifts. We’ll use gift bags & then we end up wrapping them. Or like this year, nothing will probably be in a gift bag or wrapped, as we already know what we’re both getting. LOL.

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  52. excellent submit, very informative. I wonder why the other specialists of this sector don’t notice this. You must continue your writing. I’m sure, you’ve a huge readers’ base already!

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  53. My kids get crafty and we reuse things to make crafts, like bottles and boxes. We then use them as gifts! I also always save gift bags year to year and reuse them.

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  54. I have a big ‘bag of bags’ which get reused year to year. Also I like to cut up old Christmas cards into gift tags.

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  55. We do reuse bows and paper as much as possible. We compost the tree and wreathes. We also like to decorate with leaves and branches and cones from the yard.

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  60. We reuse gift bags every year. In fact, a few of us have designated gift bags we regift back and forth between holidays and birthdays. On occasion, we also wrap gifts in newspaper.

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  62. I may use newspapers to wrap gifts, which can be recycled. I do not purchase a real tree, or any, and make the very few decorations out of recycled materials.

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  66. i always make sure i recycle but its hard when everyone is here for the holidays.i think i am going to get a container and mark it next to trash so everyone can see.

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  67. We love the gift bag wrapping idea because all our family and friends we use there gift bags for years and that saves on all the paper waste plus they have some beautiful ones to choose from

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  68. I try to give gifts that I know will be used and I try to be mindful of the waste including wrappings. I am glad to learn of this reusable wrapping. Since there is no “away” where we dispose of things we have to dispose of less.

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  70. Wow..what a great idea..is wish I’d thought of this.
    Oh gosh, we’ve been green befor it was popular..my mom was so I gre up leaving a small footprint and being mindful.
    Still am and your tips are terrific..I use them all.
    I’d add I’ve been known to recycle boxes and bows..make my own wrap even…thanks to Martha S.

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  71. I just try to recycle everything I can. It’s hard around the holidays when people come over and dont recycle.

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  72. I try to keep old gift wrapper in good condition and reuse for smaller gift and purchase gift wrap made with recycle material.

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  73. We try to stay eco-friendly all the time, even in the holidays. Some presents we do not wrap. We re-use gift bags, tissue paper, and ribbon.

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  76. I save and reuse gift bags, tissue paper and sometimes the bow’s too! I recycle everything! I use boxes i’ve saved through the year from a variety of things to wrap gifts in instead of buying boxes. Did i buy you a box of muffins? Maybe open the box! Is it shoes? Probably not, open the box!

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  77. I reuse a lot of stuff, gift bags, ribbons, bows, etc. I save paper towel rolls and TP rolls, make Christmas ornaments and decorations.

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  78. Growing up, we didn’t have close access to a store if we ran out of something. My parents would be known to use cereal boxes and cracker boxes to put gifts in, and then wrap the gift. I do that to this day. It saves me from buying gift boxes at the store. This year, I think I’m going to also use brown paper bags wrapping paper. I usually use reusable bags for groceries but I’ll be buying some food this month! So i usually ask for paper bags instead of plastic, if need be. I think I’ll use those for gift wrapping! Maybe buy some neat stamps and colorful stickers. Then it can go into recycling on Christmas morning!

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  81. I keep my wrapping as eco-friendly as possible by using cookie tins as boxes (bonus, already decorated just add bow!); saving and reusing tissue paper and bows; and saving and reusing gift bags. I also keep old Christmas cards and cut them up to use as gift tags.

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  82. I try to compile a few items per package to save on wrapping paper. I think reusable gift wrap is a great idea.

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  84. As people are unwrapping their gifts, I am collecting the bows and ribbons! I cringe inside when they tear the paper to shreds, and I save wrapping paper when it was neatly unwrapped. This product is so GREAT!! Thanks for showing me this, I would not have known about it otherwise.

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  85. I stay stay eco-friendly during the holidays by wrappings gifts in brown paper with home made cotton bows. After the holidays, I use the wrapping paper in the bottom of my bird cage and remake the bows into bird toys. (animal friendly paper and materials)….thanks

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  86. We us an artificial tree instead of a real one.Even though I love the smell of a real tree I hate that they cut down all those trees for a couple weeks of decorations. and then out to the trash they go. I’m going to look into getting a tree that you replant after you use it next year. It sounds like a much better way to decorate than just decorating a tree in your house to throw away a few weeks after you buy it.

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  87. Besides reusing gift bags and some boxes, we break down the rest of the boxes and shipping boxes taking them to the recycling center.

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  88. We don’t buy a lot of gift wrap, instead, I use t-shirts. Graphic Tees can be wrapped around gifts and secured with a ribbon; hence no paper to dispose of.

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  90. Great ideas for the Christmas. I liked your idea of reusing the gift bags and would really make use of your tips this Christmas and would like to share your ideas and tips with my friends too. Keep posting.

    Reply

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