‘Tis the season! I love this magical time of year with all of my heart and soul. The long cozy nights leading up to Christmas, the cheerful familiar carols, watching our favorite holiday movies, and admiring all the festive lights on people’s houses. (Or in Japan, the illumination shows throughout the city!) Click here to read my blog about visiting the Tokyo’s illuminations last year.
But what else does the holiday season bring? Black Friday stampedes, the stress of shopping in packed stores, spending the year’s savings (or going farther into debt), piles of discarded wrapping paper around the tree…you get the idea. Over-consumption and excessive waste are common themes for this time of year.
What kind of toll do our holiday spending habits have on the environment? Here are some waste statistics I’ve got for you.
- Americans generate an extra 25 million tons of waste during the holidays. Yes, extra! On top of all of our usual waste! All those shopping bags, spools of ribbon, and wrapping paper really add up.
- If every family reused just two feet of ribbon, that 38,000 miles of ribbon could tie a bow around our planet.
- If every American family wrapped just three presents in reusable materials (a tin, handkerchief, or scarf work great), it’d save enough wrapping paper to cover 45,000 football fields.
But there’s no need to lose your holiday cheer just because you’re worried about the environment. By making a few small changes in how your family celebrates Christmas, you can keep your environmental impact low, reduce waste, and even make your family’s Christmas better than ever! Here are ten tips on how to have a low waste Christmas.
1. Use paper bags, brown wrapping paper, newspaper, or cloth for wrapping presents.
Standard wrapping paper is not recyclable and contains plastic!.Use a more sustainable alternative. The ancient Japanese art of furoshiki uses cloth to wrap presents – here’s a quick video showing you the basics.
2. Follow the “4 Gifts for Christmas” gift-giving practice for your family.
Each member of the family gets just four gifts for Christmas: something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read. This ensures the gifts being given are thoughtful and appreciated. Here’s one family’s inspiring account on how implementing the 4 gifts made Christmas an incredibly meaningful holiday again.
3. Make your own decorations!
Bring the outdoors inside this Christmas. Who doesn’t love the piney smell from fir branches filling the air? Check out this list I put together of some decorations that’ll be sure to wow your guests.
4. Give the gift of experiences.
At the end of the day, is life measured by how much stuff we own? Or is it measured by how much we enjoyed it while we’re here? Experience gifts are great for all ages! For a child, horseback riding lessons might be the key to their heart. For your significant other, maybe a weekend in the mountains is right up their alley. Concert tickets, a day at the science museum, an annual pass to National Parks or a favorite museum — the possibilities are endless! Research shows that people who spend money on experiences instead of material objects are happier in life. 
5. Support small businesses!
Buy from people you know, go to a local craft fair or Christmas market, or even shop online from Etsy. If you’re buying in person, you can let them know they don’t need to package it up for you. Have your reusable bags on hand! With Etsy, you can message the seller beforehand and ask if it’s possible to ship without plastic. Not only does this avoid plastic packaging, but it spreads the word to sellers that consumers don’t want plastic packaging. Win, win!
6. Make your own gifts.
Bake some cookies, make a fruitcake, or if you’re feeling particularly crafty, head over to Pinterest for a DIY project. This can be a fun bonding activity to do with your kids! Bonus points if you make something consumable – then there’s no waste left over. And let’s face it, who doesn’t love a tin of freshly baked Christmas cookies?
7. Buy secondhand.
A thrift store is the ultimate place to find unusual vintage gifts. If you aren’t comfortable buying your gifts for your loved ones here, you can often find Christmas decor this time of year. Who knows, you might find a hidden treasure in a dusty corner of your neighborhood thrift store!
8. Have a game plan for all those leftovers.
What’s your typical Christmas meal look like? Do you have tons of family over and have a whole smorgasbord of food? Nothing wrong with that, but plan out what to do with leftovers when the festivities come to a close. There’s an incredibly helpful website called Love Food, Hate Waste that gives you recipes for your leftovers. And remember, your freezer is your best friend!
9. Do Secret Santa with older relatives.
I love this idea! Anybody over the age of 15 participates in Secret Santa, while the kids get their usual presents. This would be such a fun family tradition to start. You’re able to put a lot of thought into the present since you don’t have to focus on buying gifts for everyone. This means people are more likely to receive a gift they actually want or use. Did you know that over 50% of Americans report receiving unwanted gifts for Christmas?!
10. Include rechargeable batteries with electronic gifts.
Over 40% of yearly battery sales are made during the holiday season! Buy rechargeable batteries for your children’s toys and electronics to cut down on battery consumption.
– On that note –
I’ll wrap this up now (see what I did there?)… Hopefully these tips will help you and your family find a healthy balance between celebrating the holiday season and remaining conscious about the effects of your buying choices. Remember – the change starts with you. Use one or two of these tips, or even all of them! But don’t sweat the small stuff. If you forget your reusable bags or don’t have time to make Christmas decor, it’s not the end of the world. Play around with these ideas, tweak them to match your lifestyle, maybe start some new family traditions, and most importantly, enjoy this special time of year with those you love most!
Have you been able to find a roll of brown paper locally in Japan? I hadn’t fully realized that traditional wrapping paper wasn’t recyclable till I saw your post and would love to change to brown paper 😊
I actually ended up wrapping our presents in newspaper and the smaller ones in wine bottle bags. Joyful might have the rolls of brown paper though!
Hi there. The header image on this post is mine and is being used without credit or permission.
I am so sorry. I will remove it immediately and will also review my other early blog posts to make sure I didn’t do this anywhere else—I gave credit to Ethical Unicorn at the bottom of this post but realize now that she also must’ve pulled from your site and that it wasn’t her original photo.