House decorations

🎄 A great way to fill your house with the Christmas spirit is to use traditional holly, mistletoe or pine branches. You can collect these out and about yourself; remember to ask who owns the land or buy them from your local greengrocers.

♻ Look for decorations, cards, wrapping paper, string, and anything else you need at second-hand stores, on Facebook marketplace, in local free or swap groups on Facebook, on Gumtree, or anywhere else you look for preloved items.

🍂Forage for pine cones, rocks, driftwood, logs, leaves, herbs, shells, sand, or any other piece of nature you can bring indoors for the celebration. It’ll be much more relaxing walking in nature and searching for something special than rushing around in the crowded shops!

🍊Dried orange slice Christmas garland - add some colour and scent to your home with this homemade dried orange garland. It would look brilliant trailing along your fireplace, beams or bannister. The best thing about this is that you can reuse the dried oranges each year if you keep them in an airtight container afterwards.

The process begins by cutting, cooking and drying your oranges. Warning: the citrus scent will waft through your home and feel like magic...

🎄 Around two-thirds of an artificial tree’s carbon footprint is the plastic it is made from. The most environmentally-friendly option in terms of a Christmas tree is to buy a tree with roots. This means you can plant it in the garden afterwards and bring it back into the house next year. You may be able to find a local Christmas tree rental scheme so you can return the tree to be cared for until next year. According to the Carbon Trust, a 6.5ft artificial tree is responsible for about 40kg of greenhouse gas emissions – which means you need to reuse it for about 10 Christmases to keep its environmental impact lower than buying a real tree every year.

So, if you already have an artificial tree, or want to buy one, just look after it and use it for many Christmases to come. 😊

Plastic free ornament inspiration 
•    cinnamon sticks tied together with red ribbon (cotton) or string 
•    oranges sliced and oven roasted tied up with red ribbon
•    pine cones tied up with brown twine, dotted around the house
•    bows made out of a mixture of different ribbons and twines
•    paper concertina trees
•    a wooden gold-painted star 
•    paper snowflakes for the window display 

Make your own wreath

Make your own salt dough decorations 

Dried fruit wreaths
Buying a dried fruit wreath or creating your own is a great sustainable way to enjoy a Christmas wreath that will last for many years to come – and it looks and smells great.