Worried that greening your Christmas will be yet another thing on the to do list? Then read on for some top tips on how to have a gorgeous green Christmas with ease.

Tis the season to be merry, and the last thing anyone wants this year is to cancel Christmas. So if a green Christmas sounds about as exciting as another festive lockdown, then head for the brandy bottle now. But if you’re in the mood for some sparkling ideas on how to have as much festive fun as possible, while spreading the love to family, friends and the planet too, then read on.

Get yourself a real Christmas tree:

Who doesn’t love that scent of pine that trails into the house with the Christmas tree each year with its promise of tantalisingly wrapped presents, festive banquets, squealing children and Santa? For those who’ve eschewed plastic Christmas trees on the basis that they don’t feel very Christmassey, the Carbon Trust has good news: real Christmas trees have a smaller carbon footprint than plastic ones. So head out and bag yourself a real live Christmas tree.

A real live tree? Yup, you read that correctly: renting Christmas trees is now a real thing. Not only does it ensure that that evocative scent of pine lasts throughout the Christmas season, but renting a tree also makes a dent in the 7 million Christmas trees that end up in landfill each year. In fact, you can even name your tree to ensure you get the same one again the next year.

And now for the decorations:

Some people come over all Martha Stewart at Christmas, and create their own stunning decorations with popcorn and orange peel. If that’s you, it can be a lovely meditative thing to do. However, if that’s your idea of a Christmas nightmare, then the most sustainable Christmas decorations there are, are the ones you already own. Those boxes of decades old tinsel and plastic Christmas baubles from yesteryear are the pinnacle of zero waste.

If you are after eco-friendly Christmas decorations, one of Green Salon’s favourite sites is Nkuku.* They only work with natural and recycled materials, like their recycled glass baubles, and focus on traditional handmade, artisanal methods of production from handloom weaving to metal sculpting and traditional pottery. Their decorations are about as far from mass produced as it’s possible to go.

Throwing away crackers is, well, crackers:

We’ve been pulling them since the 1840s, and Christmas, frankly, wouldn’t be Christmas without them. But it’s estimated that over 40 million crackers end up in the bin on Christmas Day adding to the festive waste mountain. Now you no longer need to buy cheap and cheerful throw-away crackers, but, if you wish, can invest in some stunning reusable crackers that can add to the family Christmas heirlooms.

Green Salon loves Kate Sproston Design’s pretty Scandi design crackers which can be monogrammed for the family. Veo* has a range of reusable and eco-friendly Christmas crackers, which even double up as napkins. Simply “pull the cracker” and unroll your napkin ready for your Christmas dinner.

Getting it all wrapped up:

Who doesn’t love a Christmas present? Certainly not us. But with gifts comes wrapping, and each Christmas in the UK around 108 million rolls of wrapping paper end up in the bin. So rather than buying wrapping paper to have it thrown away, here are some creative solutions. The Japanese art of Furoshiki means wrapping gifts in fabric. You don’t have to tie yourself in knots on the correct way to tie Furoshiki, you can simply find some pretty fabric you no longer use and use it to wrap around your presents.

If you don’t have any left-over fabrics, Aspiga* sells gift bags from their cast-off fabrics, that you can use, and use and reuse, as they get gifted from person to person. And if Christmas just isn’t Christmas without paper wrapping, Re-Wrapped do gorgeous 100% recycled wrapping paper.

*Furoshiki, the Japanese art of fabric gift wrapping*

Giving gorgeous green gifts:

No one wants to come over as the Grinch at Christmas, so how do we give gifts without adding to the mountain of stuff that most of us have already? Among millennials, the gift of an experience is often top of their wish list. Who wants a pair of socks when they could get a day at a spa? So how about thinking theatre tickets, a parachute jump or, yes, that day at the spa?

And, if it’s the experience of ripping open a present you’re after, there are some fantastic sustainable options. Sign of the Times* and Vestiaire Collective* sell top notch vintage designer clothes, shoes, jewellery and bags. Bamboo Clothing* do cool bamboo hoodies and lounge pants for the teenagers in your life. And we love Mashu* for their stylish bags made from pineapple leather.

Washed Ashore ’s* jewellery is made from recycled metals, upcycled gem stones and Keshi pearls. If you’re after gorgeous lingerie, Luva Huva’s lingerie uses recycled lace and the softest bamboo fabric, and for the chicest silk pyjamas in town, check out The Ethical Silk Company.

But wait, what am I going to wear?

If you want to save yourself time and money this Christmas, how about shopping your own wardrobe for that Christmas frock? If everyone wore a pre-loved outfit this Christmas, the carbon emissions saved would be the equivalent of taking 56 million cars off the road for a day, which would more than make up for all the car journeys we’ll be doing to friends and family for the Christmas feast.

*Pipers Farm Festive Treat box is quite a treat*

And, finally, that feast:

Let’s face it, Christmas is largely an excuse for a blow-out feast - at least it is in our house. In many ways, that sounds like the opposite of sustainability and, frankly, if we ate that much everyday it wouldn’t lead to a sustainable waist-band size. But it’s perfectly possible to eat till you pop on Christmas day in a sustainable way.

Unfortunately, supermarket foods all too often score highly in food-miles and come wrapped in layers of plastic. So, if you can, head for your local butchers, greengrocers or farmers market to source your Christmas turkey and trimmings. If you think locally, seasonally and, if you can afford it, organically, then not only are you doing the planet a favour, you’re also doing your tastebuds a favour too.

At Green Salon, we’re huge fans of Pipers Farm* whose free-range bronze turkeys have just been awarded Best Christmas Turkey by Good Housekeeping, and if you’re thinking of giving food as gifts this year, their Christmas hampers are the ultimate Christmas foodie treat. Because what is Christmas really about, if it’s not a winter banquet to usher in the lightening days, and a glimmer of hope, with those that you love most?

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How to have a stylish green Christmas (without the faff-factor).