For Verity (@mummasparks), 2019 has been all about making as many small changes as possible to help the planet, so it's only natural that she's been looking into as many ways as she can, to enjoy an Eco-Friendly Christmas this year. Here are her top tips for celebrating Christmas in a kinder and more conscious way.

Christmas cards

Despite being made of cardboard, Christmas cards often contain added extras that aren't biodegradable, such as glue or plastics. Despite its beauty and sparkle, glitter is a particular problem when it comes to looking after the environment. As an alternative, why not make your own cards and get the little ones involved too? Tilly and I had great fun making cards together for the very first time a couple of years ago.

If you're looking to buy cards this year then my personal recommendation would be these beautifully illustrated seed cards. When Christmas is over, the cards can be planted in your garden to grow into wonderful flowers or vegetables!

If any of the cards you receive from others this year aren't recyclable, why not keep them back and re-use them next year, to make ornaments for the tree or gift tags for your presents?

Christmas Food

Plan your Christmas food choices in advance and seek out local suppliers for fresh vegetables and meat, as it is likely that they actively seek to produce their food more sustainably. Plus, you will be supporting local, small businesses and that's always a good thing!

When you're food shopping, try and choose things that are light on packaging, or buy loose items. In recent years, there has been a surge in small zero-waste shops opening up around the UK, where you can bring along your own containers for all your essentials. If you're not sure where to find your local Zero-Waste shop, you can search for them on this amazing website.

My top tip for preparing your kitchen is to eat from the freezer as much as you can in the weeks before Christmas, leaving plenty of room for leftovers. Surplus turkey and ham can be sliced, then wrapped in parchment and frozen. You can even freeze leftover Stilton and save it to use in a warming winter soup.

Christmas Wrapping

Did you know that lots of wrapping paper actually contains plastic? Gifts wrapped brown parcel paper and tied up with string have a traditional elegance to them and foraging outdoors for natural decorations like spruce or small pine cones make for delightful finishing touches. If brown paper alone is too plain for your liking, you might like this blog post where Tilly and I made stamps to decorate our own eco friendly Christmas wrapping paper.

Traditionally used in Japan to carry items and as an extra-fancy way of presenting your gifts, you can use a furoshiki to wrap gifts of varying sizes—from bottles to balls. This method works especially well if you have a decorative cloth, like a scarf, that you want to give the person as well.

Christmas Decorations

Heirloom decorations, that are bought with the purpose of keeping and handing down to loved ones in later years, are not only a great investment but kinder to the planet too. There's just something really special about the kind of decoration that has a special place in your heart, so much so, that Christmas wouldn't be the same without it.

Make this year the one where you switch to LED Christmas lights because they use up to 80% less energy. Did you know, if every UK household swapped a string of regular lights for its LED equivalent, we could save more than £11 million and 29,000 tonnes of CO2, just over the 12 days of Christmas!

Outdoors, opt for solar-powered lights, and put them on a timer. You'll not only make environmental savings but your energy bills will be reduced too.

Mass-produced crakers usually end up in the bin along with their fairly pointless plastic toys. This year, why not make the change to reusable Eco Friendly Christmas Crackers? This embroidered set is especially beautiful and you can choose your own special gifts to hide inside.

Christmas Tree

Up to 8 million Christmas trees are bought in the UK each year. That makes for a lot of intensive production, both in real trees and artificial ones and either way they both end up needing to be disposed of at some point in the future so there are a few things to bear in mind.

More and more garden centres and nurseries are offering potted trees to rent for the Christmas season. They'll often deliver and collect, taking the hassle away from you and once the festive season is over, the tree can carry on growing. You could buy a potted tree and keep it in the garden after Christmas, you will need to take good care of it all through the year though to keep it ready for next Christmas so it's only really worthwhile if you're prepared for the commitment involved.

If you already have a fake tree, then look after it well to ensure it lasts as long as possible. Give it a really good clean and make any necessary repairs before it gets packed away to keep it in great condition and if you're looking to replace an artificial tree, why not try looking at purchasing a second-hand one from somewhere like Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace?

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