Green Your Holidays!
Updated: Mar 9, 2022
Nothing says Christmas like evergreens indoors! This holiday season let's do more than merely bring greenery indoors, let's green your Christmas. Here are 5 ways to up your sustainability and minimize your footprint this holiday season.
1. Keep on doing what you're doing!
Enjoy your Christmas tree, real or fake! That's right, its pretty much a toss up as to which is environmentally more or less harmful...as long as you use your fake tree for 6 plus years.
You can make a difference by composting your real tree when you are finished, buying locally harvested trees, cutting down your own tree (with a permit of course), and opting for a tree cut for fire mitigation.
2. Ditch the printed paper
While fake trees may not be as bad for the environment (in comparison to real trees) as one might think, the type of wrapping paper you use can make a BIG difference in how green your holidays are. Traditional paper and the kinds of ribbons you get ribbon curls out of are NOT recyclable. Instead, consider using brown craft or recycled papers for your present wrapping. Add a few natural elements like greenery and pinecones and no one will miss the silly red Santa paper anyway.
3. Clean the air, one candle at a time!
Opt for a beeswax candle instead of a paraffin- based one and try to buy locally. Not only are paraffin wax candles bad for the environment, they are bad for you! The last thing you want is to be polluting the air your family breathes while nestled inside.
While soy candles are more sustainable for the environment and, therefore, a greener option, they do not help with air quality. In fact, the only wax we burn in candles that purifies the air is beeswax!
Support a local bee farmer by buying their wax candles and know that they are also supporting the bee population. Triple win for health, environment, and local business!
4. Shop in your own backyard, or closet, or garage, a basement craft bin...
Skip the plastic and amazon shipping and give a homemade gift! Not up for canning or candle making or floral designing? Let a local business help you out! Here at Petals we have a myriad of local and handmade gift options including bees wax candles, miniature Christmas trees, ivy wreathes, locally grown amaryllis, and of course our stunning in-house designed floral arrangements.
5. Give them something you know they'll use and enjoy!
Not sure what to gift? Avoid sending a gift across the country just to have it shipped back to the store if your recipient returns or exchanges it. Give them something they really want with a gift card! We offer gift cards in any amount. With a gift card so they can order what they want when they want it!
Have more ideas? Add them to the comments or email me directly, I'm always looking for more ways to 'grow the green'!
Comments